


A Fragile State of Mind

by kimuii



Category: Tokyo Ghoul, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Angst, But so is Emmett, Emmett is a love sick fool, F/M, Ghoul Kaneki Ken, Height Differences, I like rare pairings if you couldn't tell, Kaneki is protective, M/M, Mates, Mental Health Issues, POV Kaneki Ken, POV emmett cullen, Past-Emmett Cullen/Rosalie Hale, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rare Pairings, Rare Pairings is an understatement, Rosalie wants Emmett to be happy, Shironeki | White-haired Kaneki Ken, Supportive Rosalie, Takes Place The Summer Before Bella Shows Up, True Mates, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 12:21:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25849465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimuii/pseuds/kimuii
Summary: Kaneki, Touka, Hinami, and Yomo travel around after the battle of the 20th ward. After a while, they settle in Forks, Washington. Kaneki simply wanted to live in peace for once. Still, luck never seems to be on his side when a certain enthusiastic vampire doesn't leave him alone.
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale, Carlisle Cullen/Esme Cullen, Emmett Cullen/Kaneki Ken | Sasaki Haise, Future Edward Cullen/Bella Swan
Comments: 43
Kudos: 150





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! This is a story I am rewriting and transferring over from my Wattpad account that is under the same name as this account.

It was around 3 a.m. at the Cullen house. Edward Cullen was shut away in his bedroom per usual, classical melodies drifting softly from his stereo speakers. Carlisle, the father and head of the coven, was with his wife Esme, sitting in the living room with their two daughters, Rosalie Hale and Alice Cullen. The last two of the adopted children, Jasper Hale and Emmett Cullen were out hunting to relieve themselves of the thirst that all vampires had to experience.

Alice was playing with Rosalie's soft, blonde hair, switching between hairstyles with her vampire speed. She suddenly stiffened and a blank look flashing onto her face, her golden eyes glazing over. The strand of hair drifted from between her frozen fingers. The others immediately knew she was having a vision. Edward was down from his room in seconds and he turned into his sister's thoughts.

"Alice? What is it?" Carlisle asked.

"It's...," she started, paused, then gasped quietly. "Oh my god."

Edward was in a similar state, his mouth fell open and his own gasp falling from his lips. He saw a man, about 5'7 in height, standing holding his brother Emmett's hand, his fingers entwined with Emmett's much larger ones. Emmett's other hand was running through the man's snow-white hair as he smiled down at him. And that was where the vision cut off.

"Edward?" Esme's voice brought him back to the present. They all looked at him expectantly. He opened his mouth to speak, but Alice's voice rang sharply through his mind and she was shaking her head so hard that he thought it might fall from her shoulders.

Keep your mouth shut!

"We need to wait for Emmett and Jasper," Alice stated out loud. She narrowed her eyes at Edward, daring him to disobey her. He hesitated before giving a nod; he knew better to go against her, especially since this situation was important. His sister was petite and pixie-like, but she was truly a force to be reckoned with when she wanted to be. Looks can be deceiving after all.

"She's right," Edward sighed. "Everyone needs to be here for this." He fell onto the couch beside Alice and the room fell into silence. He snuck a glance at Rosalie and was met with a raised eyebrow from her.

"What?" She asked. "Does this have something to do with me?"

Edward and Alice cringed slightly. They doubted the blonde would be taking the news well, knowing how she was. Especially when it came to Emmett. This was going to be one hell of a bomb to drop.


	2. Chapter 2

Kaneki Ken, the one-eyed ghoul, could be found staring blankly out the plane window he was currently on at the slowly rising sun. Hinami, fast asleep, was tucked up against his side with his arm draped over her shoulder. In the two blue fabric seats in front of them sat Touka and Yomo who were speaking to each other in hushed tones as to not wake or disturb other passengers. 

Kaneki knew what they were discussing. If his hearing wasn't already heightened, Touka's non discreet glances at him through the gap between the seats gave them away. But he ignored the looks and tried to tune out the conversation altogether, opting to continue his staring contest with his own reflection in the glass. Kaneki had lost track of the number of flights the group of four had taken in the past two years.

After the battle of the 20th ward, Kaneki had nothing left for himself in Japan. His parents were dead, he had no contact with his aunt or other relatives and it wasn't as if he could just pop up in their lives now. That surely would be a calm reunion, Kaneki thought humourlessly. Yoshimura, kaya Irimi, and Enji Koma had all met their demise during the battle. Hide was dead as well; Kaneki had left his body with the CCG soldiers and had escaped from the battle between himself and Arima. 

There was a slight weight lifted from Kaneki's shoulders that night when Hide had revealed that he had known Kaneki was a ghoul all along. But in the end, Hide's death was on him. Hide had joined the CCG for him, to try and find him after he disappeared without a word. He had truly been the sun of Kaneki's life, and he had deserved better than what he had gotten.

Anteiku had been burned to the ground, so Kaneki had found Touka and Hinami at Yomo's apartment with Tsukiyama and Nishiki. He explained to them that he was leaving Japan altogether. He didn't remember when he had come to the decision, but with so much has happened to him following his near-death with Rize and the fact that he was one of the highly wanted ghouls by the CCG, he didn't have much of a choice. 

After a particularly long discussion, all but Tsukiyama and Nishiki declared that they would be going with him. Tsukiyama didn't want to leave the life he had built up and grown accustomed to in Japan, which Kaneki didn't have a problem with. Despite the fact he considered the Gourmet ghoul as a friend of sorts, he didn't trust him from a moral standpoint. But did he trust the man with his life? Absolutely 

Nishiki wanted to stay for his girlfriend, not wanting to leave her nor wanting to have her leave her life behind just for him. He could handle himself, at the end of the day, which Kaneki respected. But Kaneki was against the other three going with him, but his protests fell on deaf ears it seemed.

"We all need a fresh start," Yomo had said. So once Yomo and Touka had settled everything with the others, and they had said their goodbyes, they left. Uta had opted up to taking over the duties Yomo had been doing, so they didn't have to worry about leaving the ghouls that relied on the system Yoshimura had made to fend for themselves.

That had been two years ago, and the four had been hopping place to place ever since. They never settled long, mostly due to Kaneki's issues, though they would never say that to his face. Until now, that is. Touka, though she understood that Kaneki had his problems, was fed up with the constant moving around, and had taken it upon herself to search for a proper place to settle, a small town preferably. And she had eventually found one. Forks, Washington. A small town near Seattle and Port Angeles.

The speakers above the seats went off and a young woman's voice spoke through. "Hello there passengers, we will be landing in Seattle in approximately one hour-"

Kaneki shut out her voice, looking down at Hinami with a small smile gracing his lips. A rare sight nowadays. His fingers gently played with the ends of Hinami's light brown hair, careful not to wake her from her peaceful sleep. He could only wish to be able to sleep like that again.

The dark rings under his visible eye spoke volumes and stood out against his pale skin. He had developed a case of insomnia after the incident with Rize, and it only got worse as time went on. Nothing new to Kaneki for sure. Even if he managed to fall asleep, he would usually wake not long after, either woken from a nightmare or his own paranoid mind.

Kaneki still wore his signature eyepatch over his left eye where his kakugan was. As if he didn't already stand out with the snow-white hair. He never bothered to try and dye it back to its original black, despite Touka's comments on it. The white would show through eventually anyway; why bother?

Careful of Hinami, he leaned forward. "Where exactly will we be staying?"

Touka's face appeared in the gap and Yomo glanced over the top of his seat. He didn't have to strain his neck to do so, with his 5'11 height.

"It's a building similar to Anteiku," said Touka. "Used to be a small little shop, but it closed down years ago. All it needs is some fixing up and small touches, but that all should be done by the end of the summer."

Kaneki hummed. Touka wanted to open her coffee shop. She explained that the building had upstairs living quarters, so they wouldn't have to live off sight. But other than that, Kaneki was given no other information. He assumed she wanted to leave it as a surprise of some sort. He doubted Yomo was out of the loop like he and Hinami were. You couldn't keep many secrets from that man. Yomo had his own little way of dragging the truth out eventually.

"And our story?" Kaneki asked. "This is a small town. Locals of small places tend to be gossips and I'm sure they'll be asking."

"Same as always. Hinami's your baby sister. You can still tell people that you and I are siblings or whatever. Just let me know what you decide, Same for Yomo."

Kaneki nodded, leaning back and tightening his arm around Hinami's shoulder. He had never had an objection to the role. Hinami was his sister to him in all but blood. Touka as well.

Touka couldn't contain her grin at the sight before her. They didn't see Kaneki like this often, only fleeting moments. They were worried about Kaneki, his mental health mainly. Though his physical health was a cause for concern as well. They had been watching Kaneki getting worse and worse as time went on with a loss of what to do.

He had somewhat gotten over his reluctance of eating humans; they still used suicide victims to their advantage. It was the best route when wanting to stay on the down-low. But he still used the coffer cubes that Yoshimura had introduced him to when he first joined Anteiku. His nightmares were still very frequent, despite him trying to hide them from everyone else. They had come to the conclusion that he suffered from PTSD, and who knew what else. It's not like they could go in and get him examined, even if they could Kaneki would never allow it.

The nightmares, they noticed, occurred almost every night, and they all were well aware of his insomnia. He could get rather hostile with anyone he assumed was a threat, and a lot of his focus went to that when out in public. They had been surprised when he eventually relaxed somewhat during the flight. He had spent at least the first hour of the flight sitting stiffly, his ever-moving eyes flicking from face to face on the plane.

He had even lost his passion for reading. Touka could remember a time when Kaneki would get excited over whatever book he would be reading at the time when he was still his quiet, bookworm self. Now, he only helped Hinami with her reading and learning the English language. He didn't seem as into it as he used to be. It was just a task.

If they couldn't get him to see a professional, which was very unlikely, Yomo at least wanted to get him to open up about his issues. Touka agreed, but they have yet to bring it up with their white-haired companion. 

Kaneki was staring out the window again, apparently having no other questions to ask. The plan had begun lowering through the clouds. They would be landing soon. He gently shook Hinami's shoulder. The 18-year old's brown eyes fluttered open and she covered her mouth as she yawned.

"We there yet?" She asked.

"Almost," Kaneki answered, placing a kiss on top of her head. Her hair had grown out, reaching her shoulders at this point. She still wore that headband with the two four-leaf clover pins. Her childish figure was long gone, and she had grown a couple of feet.

She's going to break a lot of hearts, Kaneki thought jokingly.

As the plane came closer to the airport, Kaneki silently hoped that life in Forks would be peaceful and that he and the others would be happy there. He sighed. With his luck, who knew how things would go. Doubt was heavy in his heart, but he didn't want to ruin this for anyone. So he hung on to the small feeling of hope he could manage to grip.

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The five of the family ended up waiting for two more hours for the last two coven members to return, and now that Rosalie knew Alice's vision had something to do with her, she persistently demanded to know what it was. But Edward and Alice kept their lips sealed despite the impatience and annoyance of their sister.

When Emmett and Jasper finally were coming up the driveway, Rosalie was on her feet and at the front door in a flash. "Took you long enough!" She snapped.

Emmett looked startled at his wife, wondering what had her so worked up. As they entered the living room, Jasper began projecting calming waves over his twin in an attempt to ease whatever was bothering her.

"What happened?" He asked, taking a seat on the side of Alice that wasn't occupied. 

"Alice had a vision and neither she nor Edward will tell us anything! Said we need to wait for you guys to be here."

Emmett pulled Rosalie into his lap and rubbed his thumb along her arm and Alice bit her lip. She really didn't know how to get this out there without everyone going nuts. She felt Jasper's hand on her knee and she looked over at him.

"What did you see?" He asked gently. He could feel waves of nervousness and doubt rolling off of her. He didn't think anyone was in danger; Alice wouldn't hold off information like that just for the sake of them all being there to hear about it. But it was important, he could tell. Something that would affect the family as a whole.

Alice took an unneeded breath. "It's about Emmett. Sometime in the next day or so, someone will be arriving in Forks. A man with white hair, and three others."

The family exchanged glances of confusion. Was that it? 

"Are they human?"

"The man, I believe so. He's not one of us, at least. I'm not sure about the others as I barely saw them. It wasn't really the focus of the vision anyways..."

"Okay," Emmett slowly. He was still stuck on the fact that she said it was about him. "What does this have to do with me?"

"...We have reason to believe that this man may be Emmett's, true mate."

Jasper's grip on Alice's knee tightened as four other peoples' many different emotions and reactions hit him all at once. Rosalie's feelings were the only vocal one, growling rumbling in her chest. Emmett's arms locked around her waist, his wide eyes locked on Alice.

"But-but how? Rosalie-"

"We don't know," Edward said. "The vision didn't exactly show us much." He quickly began explaining what both he and Alice had seen.

Everyone had their eyes on the couple. Rosalie sat like a statue across her husband's lap, her growling having ceased. Jasper, after the initial emotional hits, was able to lock onto just his twin's and Emmett's. Emmett's were as expected. Just as jumbled and all over the place like Rosalie's. He focused just on Rosalie's whose emotions were flashing from one to another. Confusion, shock, anger, sadness...

Determination? Jasper glanced at Edward and was about to ask what was going on in Rosalie's head when she sighed, her shoulders drooping and she stood to her feet after Emmett's slight protest to letting her go.

"Well, there isn't much we can do about this until these people get here, right?"

Emmett stared up at his wife, dumbfounded. The others were looking the same, besides Edward. He had already seen her thoughts and gave a sad, pained smile.

"You're taking this...well," Alice said cautiously.

Rosalie shook her head, her hair fanning over her shoulders. "I am upset, exceptionally so. And I don't think we should make any...hasty decisions until we know for sure about everything."

She turned and took Emmett's large hands into her. "I do love you, with all my heart, no matter what. And if this man is Emmett's true mate, who am I to stand between that? Your happiness is all I want, at the end of the day."


	3. Chapter 3

It was late afternoon when they finally arrived in Forks. Once the car pulled into the parking lot of the empty building, Hinami wasted no time to jump out of the car.

"Hinami!" Touka yelled out the window. "At least wait until we're fully stopped!"

Kaneki and Yomo chuckled quietly as they got out of the care. Stretching his arms above his head, Kaneki stared up at their new home. It was two stories, as Touka had said. A mix of cream and light blue colors on the outside. Not that far down the road, Kaneki could see the local high school in the distance. He figured the majority of their customers would end up being teenagers of highschool. It was mid-summer vacation and there were some people walking around in the small town, though most would be using the opportunity of summer to get out of town.

Two kids, around middle school age, stopped and stared at him as they had been walking pasted. Kaneki gave them a small, cautious wave before following the others. Touka unlocked the front door to the building and they stepped inside.

"Nice," Touka said as she looked around the main room. The layout was pretty open with brown hardwood floors and a slightly darker blue for the walls than what was on the outside, and it didn't look like they would have to do much in the sense of renovation the building. Touka fell into a full rant of plans for furniture, supplies, and decorations.

Hinami grabbed Kaneki's wrist, ignoring the way he twitched under her grip, and pulled him towards the stairs that were behind the front counter. On the upper floor was a living area connected to a small kitchen and three other doors along a short hallway.

"Looks like Touka and I will be sharing," Hinami commented as she opened the doors one by one, revealing two bedrooms and a bathroom.

"Perfect," Kaneki grumbled dryly under his breath. The thought of sharing a room with anyone made him antsy. The living quarters were similar to the apartments they had lived in before, but Kaneki had always made sure that he'd have a room to himself. But since TOuka was the one who set this place up and she refused to tell him about it, Kaneki didn't have a say like he normally would.

It wasn't because he had a problem with sharing or anything. He didn't want to worry anyone with his nightmares or occasional..." episodes". Not long after the events with Jason and Aogiri Tree, Kaneki began regretting a lot of things. One of those things was devouring Jason. If only someone had warned him of the outcome.

He did indeed grow stronger as he had wanted, but at what cost? His mental state took the biggest nosedive yet. Rize had always been in his head, however, she would usually only make herself known whenever his hunger started to really hit him. He would usually be able to keep her in the back of his mind and ignore it. But now the ghost of Rize had become a frequent visitor in his mind, demanding him to acknowledge her presence, demanding he does the most despicable things imaginable. Then, Jason joined. Both taunted him, a constant haunting whether he was asleep.

The nightmares weren't as bad as they used to be, certainly not as bad as his "episodes" could get. At least the nightmares would stick to when he was asleep. Insomnia lets him avoid those most of the time. When awake, Rize and Jason would be faded into the back of his head, quiet and easily ignored. But they would make themselves know sometimes during the waking hours. They would start out small but get progressively worse as the "episode" went on. Luckily, Kaneki had gotten the hang of catching when the episodes would start. He could get on his own.

Yomo's voice traveled up the stairs, telling them the moving truck had arrived with their boxes and furniture for the home. Kaneki helped Touka carry a bed frame up the stairs, Touka talking all the while. 

"Everything should be ready by the end of the summer. I've already ordered some furniture for the cafe; tables and chairs mainly. I'll be getting a lot of the supplies last so they'll be fresh when we officially open shop..."

They carried the bed frame into what would be Hinami and Touka's room and set it leaning against the wall by the window. 

"How did you manage to put this plan together in little over a month?" Kaneki asked amused.

Touka smiled brightly with a slight chuckle. A look that had guilt rack through his body over the fact that she hadn't been able to do this sooner because of him. "You don't need to worry about that. What you need to worry about is what you plan on doing with your life here. Are you going to work here at the cafe and stuff?"

"Pretty sure that's my only option here," he said rubbing the back of his neck.

"That's not true. You aren't limited to just Forks either. There's Port Angeles or Seattle. I'm sure you can find something to occupy your time with."

"Would any jobs even take me without a college degree?" Kaneki mumbled. That had been another thing he had missed out on. He had given up his college life after Jason, and he hadn't bothered attending college again seeing as they were moving around so much.

Touka thought for a moment. "Not sure. I would think it would depend on the kind of job you're applying for." She looked up at him. "Maybe you can attend college again. We could get your high school transcripts from Japan transferred here; not sure about your college credits though. Might be too risky."

"That's if we end up staying here that long," Kaneki stated, before cringing as Touka narrowed his eyes at him.

"I plan on staying here for a long time, actually. We're tired of jumping from place to place, Kaneki. Nothing is going to happen. Stop being so damn paranoid."

Kaneki shrank back a little. "If you say so."

Touka sighed, her face softening. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be harsh, but you gotta understand, Kaneki."

"Believe me, I do. I hate it too. I-I'm just not used to sitting in one place for long. It makes me anxious, I guess." 

The started back down the stairs when Kaneki spoke again. "Maybe I can do something involving the high school since Hinami will be attending."

Touka grimaced but chose not to comment. Hinami would not like that. She was eighteen and Touka doubted she would want Kaneki hanging around her 24/7. It wasn't like she was a child anymore. But that conversation would be between Kaneki and Hinami, she wasn't going to involve herself unless needed.

She cut her eyes over at the white-haired male beside here, focusing on the bags under his eye and the exhaustion she could see in them. Determination settled in her stomach, turning away before Kaneki could catch her staring. She planned on talking with Yomo; they need to do something. Perhaps starting with some sleeping medication that they could slip to Kaneki when he wasn't looking. She understood that the nightmares could be a lot, but it would be for his own good. He needed the sleep, and hopefully, if the sleep is medication-induced, it would be dreamless.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the four ghouls continued to bring in their belongings and get somewhat settled into their new home, the vampires of the Cullen house had to practically restrain Emmett and Rosalie, from going into town to see about the newcomers after Alice had informed them of their arrival. Carlisle, the only one who seemed to have a clear head and the ability to contain his curiosity, kept his family calm.

They would meet them soon enough but now wasn't the time.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was an entire week before Emmett came across any hint of his supposed "true mate". He was leaving Forks Hospital after a visit with Carlisle. Saying he had been anxious for the longest time would be an understatement. Ever since Alice's vision, he found himself restless (or whatever you'd call it for someone who couldn't sleep), and he couldn't just sit around the house all day.

He'd go hunting almost every day, not wanting to defy his father's orders, and he would frequent his father's office when he wasn't hunting. There had been a lot of talks going on, mainly with Rosalie. He still was shocked, and slightly hurt, by his wife's calmness about the whole situation. They had been married since 1936; almost seventy years of marriage.

"I love you, Emmett," she had told him once they had gotten some time on their own. "You know I do. This is why, if this man happens to be your real mate, your destined, I can't stand in between that. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I held you back from the possibility of true happiness. But like I said, we shouldn't make any hasty decisions before we all know for sure..."

His wife wasn't as shallow and egotistical as others made her out to be, that was for sure. Emmett, however, didn't know what to feel. He was upset over Rosalie, and the thought of their marriage possibly ending. He wanted to know who this man was, what he looked like, his personality, his scent...everything. 

Emmett grimaced at these thoughts, shaking his head. It could not be normal for him to be having these kinds of thoughts on his mind. Especially about someone that he had never met, let alone seen before. Yet, despite that, he couldn't help be for...hopeful, in a way.

He was not given know details about his--no, this mystery man, at least appearance-wise, when he had asked Alice about the vision. But she wasn't budging, and Edward was just as tight-lipped about it. She had said something about wanting it to be a surprise. It was a wise move for Edward to keep quiet, but it irritated Emmett nonetheless.

And he hadn't heard much gossip about the new family either, which was surprising for the small town in Washington. Then again, it was the middle of summer vacation. Most people took the chance to get out of town while they could. Plus, the Cullen family tended to avoid the town gossips, which was practically everyone in town. They had been the primary topic of conversation when they had first arrived in Forks.

Emmett was walking through the hospital parking lot towards his jeep when a scent hit his nose causing him to pause abruptly and whip his head around to the direction the smell was coming from. Across the road, a girl, in her late teens or older, was walking down the sidewalk carrying several plastic bags on both arms. Groceries, Emmett assumed. She had black, bobbed hair that reached her chin and covered one eye; slender, maybe the same height as Alice but not a skinny.

The girl's own scent wasn't what had caught Emmett's attention, however. Rather the extremely faint smell. It was so weak that even Emmett's heightened nose couldn't pick up exactly what it was, but his instincts were telling him that this was the scent of his mate. The girl must be one of the three other companions that had come to Forks with him as Alice had said. Emmett had never seen the girl around, plus it also explained why she had his scent on her.

Now, Emmett wasn't one for stalking someone, no sane person would be. And he certainly didn't recommend doing so. And he definitely didn't approve of following someone just on the assumption that the person may know someone that you're incredibly eager the meet. So Emmett in no way could be able to justify or explain what he was currently doing if the black-haired girl happened to notice him at any point.

But the girl gave no indication of knowing she was being followed, which kind of confused Emmett. Even humans were at least somewhat aware of their surroundings. And it wasn't as if Emmett wasn't in plain sight, walking many steps behind her down the sidewalk.

He didn't have to follow her very far. She walked into a two-story building that was right next to Newton's family Olympic Outfitters shop. The place had been abandoned and up for sale since he and his family had arrived in Forks.

From what he could see through the large windows of the first story, the newcomers were in the process of preparing for renovations. Ladders and paint cans scattered the big open area covered in plastic to protect the floors. Were they opening a shop? Emmett looked around for anyone that might be watching then backed into the treeline behind him. He could see the girl moving around the first floor and he heard footsteps coming down from the upper floor.

"Oh, Touka," came a deep male voice as a tall man came into view from the back, behind the counter. He was well-built with silver hair that almost reached his shoulders. "I thought it was Kaneki down here. Have you seen him?"

The girl, Touka, was in the process of unpacking some of the bags onto the counter. She shook her head. The man hummed, taking a seat in one of the stools at the counter. Touka pushed 3 bags off to the side, telling the man that those needed to go upstairs whenever he went back up.

"I'm sure he's fine, Renji. He's probably just wandering around and stuff. You know he can't sit and stay in one place for long," Touka said.

Kaneki, Emmett thought. Was the person they were talking about his mate? It wasn't this Renji guy--strange names; must be foreign--, though he was getting the same scent that he had picked up from the Touka girl. Emmett moved silently closer to the building, making sure to stay concealed in the trees.

He could smell clearly now, and the man was definitely not his mate.

"Is Hinami with him then?"

"Probably. Kaneki barely lets her leave his sight if he can help it." Touka smiled slightly with a shake of her head. "I wonder if she'll try and get us to make him stop hovering or if she'll handle it herself."

Renji chuckled. "He's just protective."

"I think the words you mean is 'overprotective' and 'paranoid'."

Well, with everything that he's been through, it's just instinctive to him," said Renji. He sighed. "But I'll talk to him about it. It will probably hurt him more if we just wait for Hinami to finally snap at him."

Touka laughed at that. "True, but it would certainly be a sight to see."

So his mate was the protective type. He deduced that this Kaneki was is possible mate, as the only one left of family was this girl named Hinami. Emmett wondered how that would work out with him, as he himself had his own protective tendencies. Though they may not be as extreme as it sounded like this Kaneki's are. What had happened to make him that way? The way they spoke about him made Emmett think that Kaneki wasn't originally like that, at least not to that extent.

"What are you doing?"

Emmett was so focused on his own thoughts and the conversation inside that he didn't even hear Jasper show up. He had nearly jumped out of his skin at Jasper's sudden voice at his side. He turned to look at him and glared as his brother gave a sheepish grin.

"Don't do that!"

"Sorry," Jasper said. He turned to look in the building. "It's only been a week and you've already become a stalker."

"I'm not stalking," Emmett grumbled defensively, crossing his large arms over his chest. "I saw the girl in town," he nodded his head in the girl's direction, "and she smelt like my mate, so I just--"

"Followed her home," Jasper finished. "Pretty sure that's what most people would call stalking."

"Shut up," the burly man pouted. The two inside were talking about ideas for renovations it seemed. They were opening a coffee shop on the lower level. A good idea, in Emmett's opinion. It had never crossed his mind that this small town didn't have a coffee shop or a cafe of sorts.

Jasper slapped his hand against his brother's shoulder to bring his attention the girl walking up to the building from the sidewalk. In her late teens, the girl had bobbed brown hair with a headband with two four-leafed clovers on it. This must be the Hinami girl they were speaking of. If that's the case, where was the Kaneki guy?

"Hinami," Touka said as the girl crossed the front door frame. "Where's Kaneki? We thought he was with you."

Hinami came around the counter to Touka's side. "He was. We got me registered for the coming school year and stuff. He wandered off afterward."

"That doesn't seem like him."

"I doubt he would have if the school wasn't close by," Hinami said, rolling her eyes. The other two chuckled.

"He was acting weird during the end, like more than usual. Antsy."

Touka paused, then sighed. "We'll talk to him about it later."

Emmett cursed under his breath. He'd missed his chance. Maybe I could head to the school and pick up the man's scent from there...

Jasper nudged his side and shook his head. "I know what you're thinking; don't do it. You'll meet him when the time's right."

He opened his mouth to argue, then shut it with a sigh. He nodded. "Was there a reason you came out to find me?"

"Carlisle wants to go hunting tonight."

"I've practically hunted every day. I don't think I need it."

"You sure? He's getting off work early today."

Emmett moved his gaze back to the building. The three had disappeared up the stairs while they'd been talking. Hunting might be a good idea; keep his mind off things. More importantly, it would keep him from trying to track down his mate right there and then. 

"Alright," he said, and Jasper smiled before disappearing into the woods, presumably back home. Emmett ran his hand over his face, glanced at the work in progress coffee shop, and heading back to the hospital to get his jeep.


	4. Chapter 4

Angered roars erupted through the air deep in the woods of Washington. Two grizzly bears were in a loud standoff with Emmett as he toyed with them playfully. He would come in reach of one of the bears' large claws only to dash out of the way with his enhanced speed when it attacked.

"Emmett...," cam an exasperated, yet amused sigh from Carlisle who stood with Edward and Jasper at the edge of a clearing. "Quit messing around before you--"

There was a sound of ripping fabric as one of the bears took the opportunity of distraction and snagged its claws through Emmett's shirt. He wasn't fazed in the least and let out a booming laugh before going forward and sinking his teeth into the bear's thick neck. Jasper quickly took care of the second grizzly.

Edward eyed Emmett's tattered shirt that hung from his body in strands as he came over to them. He held out a spare white shirt, shaking his head. They always brought spare clothes during their hunting trips, mainly for Emmett as he always seemed to get his clothes destroyed one way or another.

"Alice is going to kill you," he said. "That's what, The fifth shirt this week?"

Emmett responded with his usual unconcerned shrug and swung an arm over Edward's shoulder. "Oh Eddie, my dear boy. Lighten up, it's just a bit of fun."

Edward gave him a deadpan stare before ducking from under Emmett's arm and chucking the clean shirt at his face which his brother easily caught. Jasper chuckled. 

"He says all that now, but just wait until Alice and Rose get their hands on him. I'm sure going on one of their lengthy shopping trips will get him to tone down the 'fun' for a while."

Emmett cringed at the thought, snatching the remains of his shirt from his body and pulling the new one over his head. Carlisle chimed in. "Alright, come one. We should get back before the girls start worrying."

The four walked at a human's pace, just to prolong what they liked to call their "Boy's Night". It had been a stressful while for everyone, especially Emmett, and they liked to see him finally relax a little bit. They all talked amongst themselves, laughing and joking together when Emmett froze mid-step.

A heavenly scent had hit his nose. Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply. It was a strange, yet still pleasant mix. Coffee and ivory soap, and a hint of what Emmett believed to be men's cologne.

"Emmett?"

Jasper, sensing his brother's sudden off course emotions, and Edward who scanned his thoughts, stood at Emmett's sides. Emmett opened his eyes; if he had been human, his heart would have been racing rapidly from within his chest.

"He's here."

"Your mate," stated Edward. It wasn't a question.

Emmett nodded frantically, his fingers twitching at his side, and his feet shuffling against the forest floor. Then he darted off in the direction of the scent. He didn't know how far he had run, but as he entered the area where his mate's scent was the strongest, arms grabbed onto his arms and around his middle.

Jasper released calming waves towards his larger brother, trying to get him calm enough to at least know what he was doing. He was reacting on instinct, they noticed. Emmett could have easily broken all three of their holds on him, but Edward's hissing in his ears and Jasper's powers taking effect on him had him slowly coming back to a rational reality.

"Calm down!" Edward hissed. "You don't want to just come rushing at him out of nowhere. Especially not in the middle of the night, and especially not out in the middle of the fucking woods."

Emmett blinked and turned to Edward who continued. "Not only will that possibly expose you and the rest of us, but you might scare him off. Do you want your mate to be afraid of you?"

"Of course not," Emmett snapped. That was the last thing he wanted. He inhaled slowly and stopped struggling, which he hadn't even realized he was doing. His body going slightly limp in the others' arms, he stared forward, his gaze pulled towards the source of the scent that had been teasing him all day, and he took in his first-ever sight of his mate.

His mate, Kaneki, sat with his back against a huge pine tree, his head bowed forward with arms hanging at his sides. If it wasn't for the steady beating sound of his heart, Emmett would have thought he was dead. Kaneki's pale skin that rivaled his own and his snowy white hair blended together almost perfectly.

Emmett wondered why his hair was that color. He smelled no hint of chemicals usually found in hair dye or bleach, and he didn't see any different colors coming from his roots, so his hair wasn't purposefully dyed. He appeared to be asleep, or rather unconscious.

He went to take a step towards his mate. He needed to know that he was all right. But the arms around him only tightened, holding him back in protest. Not wanting to hurt his family by forcing to break their holds, Emmett looked at them before his pleading gaze landed on their father.

Carlisle hesitated, then nodded, pulling his arms from around his son's torso and motioning for Jasper and Edward to do the same. Emmett slowly began approaching Kaneki's form. What was he even doing out here in the middle of the night? There were no hiking trails that came out this far. He was only a foot or so away when the young man suddenly spoke.

"I'm fine."

The four vampires froze, surprised since they believed that he had been unconscious. Kaneki looked up and met Emmett's gaze, shiny gray-silver meeting melted gold. If he had been human, his heart would have surely stopped at that moment. Emmett had to restrain himself from pulling the man into his arms. His eyes drank in the sight of his mate, darting over his body for any sign of injury. There was no scent of blood, nor could he see anything wrong. But that did little to settle his nerves as he glanced back and looked into Kaneki's eyes--well eye, as his left eye was covered with a black eyepatch.

Kaneki squirmed under Emmett's unblinking stare, and Emmett quickly shook himself out of his trance, realizing that he was weirding his mate out.

"My name is Emmett," he stated rather lamely, "Emmett Cullen. What are you doing all the way out here?"

Kaneki stared up at him blankly. "I was taking a walk..." he said slowly, with a faint accent, Emmett noted, "and I got tired. I'm fine."

The tone he was using was guarded, Emmett noticed. He watched as Kaneki got to his feet and eyed the four men with wariness. Now standing, Emmett took note of his height. Around 5'6, maybe 5'7; a major difference compared to Emmett's 6'5. He stood with his feet apart and looked ready to take off running at any moment if need be.

"Taking a walk," Emmett echoed his words with his eyebrows furrowing together. "But there are no trails that lead out this far. And its the dead of night."

"And?"

That floored him. He blinked twice, not understanding. The guy responded as if Emmett's question wasn't reasonable

"S-so you must have gotten lost?" It came out a question, rather than the statement he had intended it to be.

Kaneki shook his head. "I know how to get back out with or without a trail to guide me. Like I said, I got tired and wanted to rest. As for the dead of night comment, I couldn't sleep."

Emmett glanced behind him at Edward, wanting to know if he was being lied to or not. Edward's eyes were narrowed, his lips pursed.

"I can't get a good read on him," he told his brother, to quiet for the other male to hear. Or so he thought. "I'll explain later."

Emmett turned back to his mate, not sure how to respond to that. Edward's powers had not worked before, thoughts were always clear to him. He stared down at Kaneki, wondering what made him so hard for his brother to read. He took notice of his height again. If Emmett were to hug him-oh how he wanted to- he'd have to bend for the top of Kaneki's head to come to his chin.

Normally, Emmett wouldn't find someone that much shorter than him as any sort of threat, but he'd be lying if he wasn't wary of the man before him. He hated that feeling, he didn't want to feel like he had to be wary of his mate, and vise versa.

His one visible eye was hard and cagey, his body never leaving that tense stance. Never mind him being prepared to run, he looked ready and prepared to attack if he had to, which only added to his feelings of wariness. His companions had said that Kaneki was the overprotective type, especially when it came to his own it seemed, but Kaneki was by himself right now.

"What's your name?" Emmett asked after a moment of silence, even though he already knew. He just wanted to hear his voice again.

Kaneki scratched at the skin beneath his eyepatch. "...Kaneki Ken."

He nodded when Emmett repeated it. "My family and I just moved here."

"In that old building next to Newton's business, right?"

"Yes," Kaneki said. "We're originally from Japan." His eye narrowed a fraction. "You asked me why I was out here in the middle of the night. Why are you people out here?"

Emmett rubbed the back of his neck. Where was he picking up these nervous mannerisms? It wasn't unreasonable to be asked that. "Our family is known for hiking sometimes."

He cringed. What a shit excuse! Who hiked in the middle of the night anyway. 

"At night?"

"Y-yes..."

"Dumbass," came Jasper's voice, and Emmett bit back a remark at his brother.

They all stood in silence as they watched Kaneki regard them with even more caution than before. But he made no attempts to move, standing his ground. It was rather...animal like, the way he acted. 

Carlisle decided then to step forward, Kaneki's eye immediately snapping to him. He took a step back in response and to the side before stopping, leaving Emmett staring and confused.

"He's trying to keep all of us in his view," Jasper murmured, recognizing the tactic from when he was in the war, before and after he was changed. 

Edward was still trying to get tapped into the man's head. His mind was very chaotic behind the neutral expression that Kaneki put forth. It was unimaginably frustrating, never had someone have a way of blocking him out. He couldn't really pinpoint one thought over another because his mind was all over the place, and in a different language at that. Japanese, he assumed since Kaneki had said that he was originally from Japan.

"My name is Carlisle Cullen," their father stated calmly, opting to stay where he was rather than coming closer. "These are my sons," he gestured to Emmett, "Emmett, obviously. And Edward and Jasper." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder.

"We own a property a few miles from here. And we were just about to head home. We could drive you back into town if you'd like."

Kaneki shook his head almost immediately. "Thank you for the offer, sir. But I can get back home on my own perfectly fine."

"I don't feel comfortable with leaving a young kid out in the middle of the woods with no--"

"I'm 24, actually. I can take care of myself."

"Could have fooled us," said Jasper in his normal voice volume, causing Emmett to snort. He was right, Kaneki looked not look his age. Definitely not older than Emmett who was forever stuck at the age he had been turned: 20.

Kaneki glared at him and Emmett quickly cleared his throat, forcing the smile off his face. "That's not really a good idea, man. There are bears and mountain lions out here."

The others hoped, for everyone's sake, that Kaneki would just agree to at least let them drive him back into town. There was no way in hell that Emmett was going to leave the man out here, and they knew that.

The white haired man huffed in a somewhat childish manner, annoyed. "I said, I'll be fine. I can handle myself, now if you'll excuse me..."

Kaneki started walking around them, keeping his front to them until he had Edward and Jasper standing between them. He gave them another glance over before he turned and started through the woods. Carlisle went to grab Emmett's arm, but the large man was already two steps ahead and had already rushed forward.

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Kaneki, who was listening out just in case, quickly spun around at the sound of rushing feet heading towards him, and before he could do anything, he was lifted suddenly into the air as if he weighed nothing.

"Hey!" He yelled, struggling in Emmett's grip as he was pulled firmly against a solid body. "Get the fuck off!"

He turned in his grip to face Emmett, his hands landing on the man's broad shoulders and pushing against them. Kaneki was seconds away from releasing his Kagune on the large man who had dared to touch him, to lay a hand on him. None of these men were human, Kaneki knew that. They didn't smell like regular humans did, but they didn't smell like ghouls either. He didn't know what they were, which made him wary of them in the first place.

He could handle a human, another ghoul too if he had to, but he didn't want to get into an altercation with something he knew nothing about. 

Kaneki hadn't lied when he told them that he was out there because he couldn't sleep. He rarely ever could, so he wasn't really lying. Just leaving the majority of the situation out. He had been wandering the woods ever since he'd left Hinami at the highschool. He wouldn't do something like that normally, but towards the end of getting Hinami enrolled in school, he had felt the very distant echoing in the back of his mind. He tried to ignore it at first, but Rize and Jason's voices only grew louder and louder the longer Kaneki tried to ignore their presence.

Somehow, he'd made it to the end of the tour and was just walking out the school's doors with Hinami. At this point, his fingers were twitching visibly, followed by body trembles and an aching headache. Hinami had taken notice, asking if he was alright which he had nodded in response to. He knew it wasn't convincing. He told her to head back to the house without him; it wasn't far. He didn't give her the chance to respond and was already running towards the trees near the school. He could hear Hinami calling his name, but he pushed that aside. He didn't want her to see him if and when he eventually broke down.

He didn't know how long he ran; all he knew was that he was miles deep in the woods and he wasn't stopping anytime soon. 

Echoing, echoing voices pulsed in his head, taunting, instigating. They brought forth the past, memories that Kaneki just wanted to forget, but couldn't. His shoulder slammed into a tree trunk that he hadn't been able to dodge fast enough, sending him stumbling. He quickly regained his balance and continued running, running, running. Images of Hide's death flashed in his head, the attack on Anteiku, his time with Jason...the situations a lot more gruesome than they had actually been, though they were still bad.

If Rize and Jason were making it out worse just to make Kaneki lose his mind, a punishment for him daring to ignore them, then it was working. They showed him the day when he and Hide had been attacked by Nishiki, an event that Kaneki had forgiven him for, and where Rize had almost gotten him to devour his one and only friend. Only in this memory, Touka wasn't there to stop him.

He watched helplessly as he watched himself tear apart Hide's still live body. The blood, the screams, the red staining his teeth, and chin--stop, stop, stop!--

Kaneki felt himself flying forward, rolling along the forest floor. He didn't bother trying to stand; he doubted he had the ability to at this point. He clutched at his head, gripping his hair in his hands tightly. His breath coming way to fast as he sank into the chaos of his own mind.

Away from the world of reality, Kaneki found himself in that field of flowers Rize had manifested in his mind during his torturous time with Jason. Lycoris Radiata, red spider lily, Kaneki remembered The red magic lily. They had been such a prominent thing during his time in his head, he had looked them up once he had escaped. The endless meadow was still that bloody red rather than the original white they had been before he'd accepted Rize...

He actually liked the flowers, despite their symbolism and the role they played in regards to him and his sanity. But the rich read color was entrancing to the eye; oh how beautiful they were, he thought, caressing the petals softly with his fingers.

This wasn't the first time he had revisited the field, so he knew the silence, the peacefulness, he was sitting in wasn't going to last long. It never did. He snorted bitterly because as he thought that, Rize and Jason made their appearances.

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The next thing Kaneki knew was waking up face first in the dirt, the voice finally gone, retreated for now, and allowing him to return to reality. He stood up on his tired legs, wiping the dirt from his face and clothes as he walked to the nearest tree and slid down the trunk, head bowed. 

It was night, the noises of nocturnal animals around him. Kaneki hoped that the others weren't out looking for him or anything, he hated being an inconvenience. He sighed, bringing his hands underneath his eyepatch to run his eyes before letting his arms fall back to his side. He had maybe sat there for a few minutes when he heard someone enter the area. More footsteps came to a halt and a hiss conversation, then one pair of steps started coming towards him. He looked up.

The human that had started to approach him was a large man, with three others behind him. At least he thought they were human? Their scents were one of a typical human you'd come across. The man was tall, taller than even Jason had been, and looked like an avid weight lifter. Intimidating, to say the least. His body just screamed strength. Handsome, with brown, almost black hair and golden eyes.

The other three had similar characteristics. Mainly the very pale skin, almost like porcelain, and golden eyes. Could eyes naturally be that color? When he got to his feet, Kaneki got the full effect of the man's, Emmett, height. The top of his head just hit his broad shoulders. 

He wanted to just go ahead and head home, he was sure Touka wouldn't sleep without knowing he was ok, but this Emmett person seemed eager to have a conversation. And when he explained why he'd been out there, leaving out the episode and passing out and settling to say he'd been out walking and got tired, one of the other boys said something about not being able to "read" him. Whatever that meant.

Both boys, the copperhead and the blonde, spoke in quiet tones. Clearly speaking amongst their companions, but it wasn't loud enough for anyone without a heightened hearing to pick up. Kaneki had to stop himself from reacting visibly to the blonde hitting on the mark on what he was doing when he moved to keep all of them in his line of sight when the other blonde step towards him. He declined the dad's offer of a ride back into town; he'd find his way back eventually. And then he found himself in the position he was in now, glaring into the golden eyes in front of him.

"Put. Me. Down."

Kaneki already didn't like being touched, but this seemed different. Wherever his body touched Emmett's, which were his hands and his chest down, was erupting in tingles. It...wasn't necessarily a bad feeling. He had never felt anything like it, and it was overwhelming. He wanted to remove himself immediately, but the strong arms around his waist refused to budge.

"I-" Emmett started.

"Emmett," came the dad's voice. "Release him."

Emmett looked conflicted with the situation, but reluctantly lowered Kaneki back onto his feet, but kept him in his arms. Kaneki had to bite back the growl that threatened to rumble in his chest. What was this guy's problem?

He tried shoving against his chest again, but it was like pushing against a solid concrete wall. And why was this guy so cold? He opened his mouth to yell, a better alternative than using his Kagune. But he was cut off by the stuttering, desperate, and pleading tone that surprised Kaneki. 

"Look, I understand that you're wary of us, rightfully so. I mean, we are four random men that you've never met or seen before coming up to you in the middle of nowhere, and that's actually a very responsible thing, being cautious and all that, but I was being serious when I said that there are mountain lions and bears and shit out here and it's really not safe to be wandering out here by yourself, especially in the middle of the night.

Kaneki opened his mouth again, but Emmett wasn't done. 

"And we really just want to help you out and don't want to leave someone out here in the dead of night if we can actually do something to prevent that, so please allow us to at the very least drive you back into town so you get back safe."

Kaneki was blinking rapidly. Did he even take a breath during all that rambling? Hell, Kaneki was fluent in English at this point, and even he had a hard time following what was said.

Silence settled as Kaneki continued staring up at Emmett. His gold eyes held so much emotion, some Kaneki couldn't understand as to why he'd be feeling that. They were intense, and so was the tingling. Oh, why was he still being held?

"A-alright fine," Kaneki finally said, shuddering and breaking their staring contest. He could understand to an extent, the want to help someone. They had thought he was just some kid after all, based on Jasper's comment when he had stated his actual age. Besides, if they wanted to harm him, this would be the perfect time and place to do so.

Emmett's face lit up with a beaming and relieved smile, and almost reluctantly dropped his arms and Kaneki took an instant step back. The tingling was gone almost immediately, which was what he'd wanted. Yet why did he have the urge to step back into the man's arms just to feel the sensation again?


	5. Chapter 5

Jasper went jogging off into the trees once Emmett placed his mate back onto his feet and released him. Kaneki raised an eyebrow at that.

"Where is he going," he asked.

"To get my jeep started up," Emmett replied. "It's parked back on the trails."

It made no sense to Kaneki as to why the brother had to go ahead of them. It wasn't cold enough to have to preheat your vehicle beforehand, but he chose not to speak on it. The four started off in the direction Jasper had went, and they walked in tense silence. At least for Kaneki, it was. He stayed in the back of the group, still wanting to keep all of them in sight. They didn't say anything about his behavior, but Emmett seemed adamant about being close to him. He stuck himself to Kaneki's side, not touching him, but close enough that ignoring the larger man's presence was difficult.

"So, have you been in America long," Emmett asked, watching as Kaneki flinched slightly at the sudden break of silence.

"Um...we came to America two years ago, and we've been roaming around until we came here."

"Roaming?" So are you not staying here long?" Emmett had assumed that they would be settling here for a while, seeing as they were opening a business here. His fingers twitched in Kaneki's direction, wanting to be in contact with him. A simple brush of the arm, anything really. He was acting like he would disappear in a puff of smoke before him.

Kaneki shrugged, reaching a hand up to push a tree branch out of his path. A large, pale hand darted forward with such quickness that Kaneki had barely seen him move, and the branch was lifted before Kaneki could even touch it. He stared at Emmett strangely, blinking, but continued.

"That's the plan it seems," he stated. He didn't appear very happy with that fact. Emmett wondered why.

"Well, if you'd like, my family and I can help you get settled into town. We've been here a year already."

Kaneki hummed, neither accepting nor declining the offer. They approached one of the trails then, and a pair of bright headlights lit up the surrounding trees. Jasper stepped out of the jeep but paused as Emmett shook his head at him.

"You drive," he said.

Jasper got back in the driver's seat with no protest as Kaneki went to one of the side back doors and opened it. Emmett reached out to help him in, the jeep was relatively high up, but Kaneki had already pulled himself in without difficulty. He did, however, seem to be having trouble with the belts.

"Here, let me," Swatting the man's hands away and grabbing onto the buckles. Emmett could feel how stiff Kaneki's body was when his hands and arms brushed against him. His eyebrows furrowed, despite his body relishing in contact with his mate. Did he not like being touched? He quickly finished with the buckles, pushing away the slight hurt he felt and not wanting to move away. He pulled back.

"Thank you."

Emmett smiled at the quiet thanks and the slight bow of the head in his direction. "No problem."

He turned to Edward, who stood on the other side of the jeep, waiting for Emmett to get in.

"I'll ride in the back," he told him, hopping into the small space in front of the trunk. He leaned over the side to his brother and said quietly, "He doesn't like being touched, so one of us being squashed in the middle is a no go. Keep your distance, please."

Edward nodded, getting into the jeep and making sure to keep to his side. Emmett wished he could sit in the vehicle with Kaneki. He wanted to continue their conversation. No matter how one-sided it may be. But he knew if he kept making him uncomfortable, whether it's unintentional or not, he'd drive his mate away. And he definitely didn't want to intentionally do that. He'd already weirded him out with his action so far. This was going to be a lot more complicated than he'd previously thought.

The whole mate thing seemed so much easier with Rosalie. Though that may be because she had saved him and had him changed by Carlisle when he'd officially met her. A lot easier to accept the situation once you realized that vampires were an actual thing and that you now were one. But to a human who wasn't in the loop, it came off as more than strange. Insane really.

The drive was relatively quiet the whole way there, besides Carlisle asking Kaneki if it would be alright if they stopped by the house to drop off three of them. He'd have one of them drive him into town. He glanced briefly at his son before stating that his wife was most likely waiting up for them. Emmett grinned as he knew what his dad was doing.

"That's fine," Kaneki said after a moment, just as they pulled out of the trail and onto the main road of the backwoods of Forks.

Soon they pulled up to the house. Esme, who had gotten a text from Edward explaining the situation, was standing on the front steps dressed in a robe. Playing the part. They parked and got out, Jasper tossing the jeep keys to Emmett as Esme walked up. Kaneki tensed up visibly and took a slight stepped back away from the approaching woman. But Esme stopped a good foot in front of him. Someone must have told her. Thank God.

"Are you alright, dear," Esme asked softly. "I was told what happened. What were you doing out there, child."

Kaneki's eye twitched.

"He's 24, mom," Edward said, amused.

"Oh. Sorry, dear."

"It's fine. I look young for my age."

Esme smiled, taking in his appearance. He was a very beautiful man, very handsome. She could see why he had Emmett so smitten already. "Would you like to take a shower before you go home?" She asked, eyeing Kaneki's dirt smudge clothes. "I'm sure we have something that could fit you."

Kaneki shook his head almost immediately. "I've already burdened you enough, and I wouldn't want to intrude..."

"Oh, nonsense, come on." Esme gestured an unsure looking Kaneki forward.

"A-Alright."

"Where are Alice and Rose?" Carlisle asked as they went into the house. Jasper and Edward excused themselves to bed, leaving Emmett, who had returned to Kaneki's side, and their parents.

"In bed," she said. "Like you should already be." Giving them a stern glance, she turned to Kaneki. "Come, you can use our bathroom."

They disappeared up the stairs.

"I'm surprised that you two aren't down here," Emmett said aloud.

"Trust us, we want to be," said one of the girls in question. Alice, from somewhere upstairs. Probably Rose's room.

"We'll meet him another time," said Rose. "We don't want to overwhelm him. I'm so glad you found him, Emmett."

Emmett smiled bittersweetly at that. "I'll go get him some clothes," he said, going up the stairs.

"You know full well that your clothes will be too big for him," Carlisle chuckled. Esme stepped out into the hall.

"I already set some clothes out for him. Alice had bought them for Jasper; the tags are still on them, so they're new."

Emmett huffed and disappeared into his own room and appeared again with a hoodie in his hand. Without a word, he entered his parents' room. He placed the hoodie on top of the clothes Esme had put on the bed. He could hear the water of the shower running in the bathroom, along with a quiet humming. Emmett couldn't recognize the melody.

He left the room and returned downstairs, where his parents had gone. They stared at him as he came down with knowing looks on their faces.

"Not a word," he grumbled, going into the living room and leaning against one of the lounge chairs. He'd no doubt be blushing if he could. He had noticed his sudden shift in perspective over the past few hours. Just that morning, he'd been having such an internal battle with himself over the whole situation. Even finding it strange that he'd be this curious about some stranger. But he wasn't some stranger, even if Alice had stated that there was a good possibility that he was his real mate. Alice's visions were rarely wrong. But they didn't know for sure then.

Even when he'd caught the undefinable scent of Kaneki on his companions, he'd still found himself unsure, despite being drawn in by it. But as soon as he smelled him directly and saw him face to face for the first time, and had him in his arms, it was as if things just clicked into place for Emmett.

It had been wonderful, to say the least. Just touching Kaneki and embracing him. It wasn't a physical sensation, but more of a mental one. Emmett wondered if Kaneki had felt something too. He couldn't be sure. His scent filling his senses, staring into that gorgeous gray eyes, and having that beautiful body pressed against his...Emmett shivered.

"I can hear you." Came Edward's voice. "Tone down your thoughts!"

Shut up! And stay out of my head!

Laughter rang out, much to Emmett's annoyance. As much as he loved his brother, his mind-reading was irritating.

Emmett returned to his thoughts. He thought back to Kaneki. He had to admit, he'd felt disappointed when he realized that Kaneki didn't like people touching him. He wondered what that stemmed from, or if that was just how he was. His hands, which were crossed over his chest, clenched into tight fists, and a low, deep growl rumbled in his chest at the very thought of Kaneki having been hurt.

Carlisle and Esme looked at him, concerned.

"Just thinking," he said.

He'd get over this disappointment, for Kaneki. He more than likely couldn't help it, and Emmett refused to make him uncomfortable or feel any worse just because of his own wants. That would be selfish of him.

They heard the water shut off, and it wasn't long before footsteps come towards the stairs.

"In here," Esme called.

Kaneki came around the corner and stood in the archway of the living room. Emmett couldn't help but stare. The pants that he'd been given were rolled up a few times at the legs. He wasn't sure about the top as he was drowned in Emmett's hoodie; the sleeves pushed back to reveal his hands, which were holding his dirty clothes. The bottom of the hoodie reached his thighs, and his hair was damp still, his free hand reaching up and pushing his bangs out of his eye. His eyepatch still remained.

"Thank you for the clothes," Kaneki said, once again bowing at them. "I'll get them back to you once I get the chance."

"Don't worry about that," Carlisle said. "It's no loss to us."

Emmett straightened up, his jeep keys dangling on his fingers. "Come on, I'll drive you back."

Kaneki nodded and muttered another thank you, following Emmett back outside.

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Drive safe now." Kaneki heard Esme call out to Emmett as they walked back to the jeep. Kaneki hopped into the passenger's seat.

"We aren't off road, so you can just use the regular seat belt," Emmett said, getting behind the wheel. "I'm sorry about earlier."

He started the engine and drove out of the driveway. The large house disappeared amongst the thick wilderness.

"Earlier?" Kaneki asked.

"Grabbing you like that. I'd be apologizing regardless, but you don't like being touched, right? I didn't notice until I was helping you with the harness earlier."

Kaneki stared at the man out of the corner of his eye, curiously. He was correct, in a way. He didn't like being touched; his reaction really depended on who the person was. But Kaneki had found that it wasn't that he didn't like physical contact that had him tensing up when it was Emmett. It was the main reason, at least. It was that overwhelming tingling sensation. It wasn't like the first time he had had most of his body pressed against the man.

He felt his cheeks warm slightly. He assumed that it was just something wrong with him. Emmett had given no indications that he'd felt the same feeling that he did.

"I'm fine," he finally said. "You didn't know. I'm surprised you noticed, honestly."

Emmett glanced at him, then back to the road. "You tensed up pretty bad."

Kaneki hummed, cringing internally. Was he always that easy to read, his reactions clear as day? In the past, when he was still a naive little college kid, he had been like an open book. He knew that. But he thought he'd been long passed that, or at least he'd gotten a good grip on how he responded to things or how he came across to others. It wasn't good to be so open and readable. At least to those on the outside. People take advantage of those who wear their hearts and emotions on their sleeves. That was a lesson he'd learned the hard way.

Unconsciously, his fingers brushed back and forth on his wrist. He had healed from his injuries to the point that all but a few scars were there. Namingly, his original scarring from when he'd been put through the operation after the Rize incident, and the ones on both his wrists from shackles. The scarring went around the entirety of his wrists. That was the main reason he usually wore long sleeves.

"You okay?" Emmett asked. He looked over at the driver as he kept glancing back and forth between him and the road. He gestured at him. "You didn't pick up anything out there, did you? Poison Ivy or something?"

Kaneki looked down, noticing his own movements. He pulled the hoodie sleeve down over his hand. "No. It's fine."

The hoodie, a lot larger than he was used to wearing, was Emmett's. Kaneki had known immediately when he picked up initially back at the Cullen house. It had his scent all over it. He'd thrown it to the side at first; the shirt he'd been given was already long-- longer -- sleeved, and he didn't need the extra layer. He didn't know what made him change his mind, but after a too confusing internal debate, he found himself pulling on the thick material. Perhaps it was the scent, Emmett, admittedly, did smell nice. Kaneki couldn't exactly explain it. But he did know that it was a sweet scent.

The man's scent, Kaneki noticed, seemed to calm him, put him at ease. Something he wouldn't normally feel considering the circumstances. And he couldn't decide whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Are you sure? I don't know if any place would be open at this time, but I'm sure we could find something for a rash if you have one."

"No, no," Kaneki said. "I'm fine, promise."

They fell silent, and as they came to a stop at one of the town's red lights, Kaneki glanced at the time illuminating from the dashboard. It was past 4 in the morning.

"So, your family, how are they? I'm sure they're worried about you. Not coming home until late."

Kaneki sighed. "I'm certain I'll be hearing about it later on. But they're fine. Been busy working."

"At the building next to the Newton's, right?"

"Yes. How did you know?" Kaneki asked.

Emmett smirked. "It is a small town. Word spreads, even when most people are gone for the summer. What are ya'll setting up?"

"A cafe."

"Great idea! Forks hasn't had one, surprisingly. The only thing we really have is the diner."

"Touka, my friend, always wanted to own her own business."

"Are you not going to help run it?" Emmett enquired.

"I'll help when needed."

Forks' streets were empty and quiet at this hour, and it wasn't long before they pulled into the parking lot. The shades downstairs were drawn shut for the night, so Kaneki couldn't tell if anyone was up.

"Kuso," Kaneki swore under his breath, unhooking his seatbelt. "Thank you for the ride."

He turned to look at Emmett when the man didn't say anything in return. He was staring at Kaneki with a blank expression for a moment before he seemed to realize he had spoken. He cleared his throat almost nervously. "Y-yeah, no problem." He chuckled. "Sorry, but is that a normal thing over in Japan? The whole bowing thing?"

Kaneki couldn't stop his lips from twitching upwards in amusement. He was confused as to why he looked nervous, though.

"Yes, it's a way of greeting or showing thanks."

Emmett nodded, looking like he was filing that information away. Kaneki turned, still aware of Emmett's movements, keeping an eye out, and opened the jeep door.

"Um, quick question."

He paused, where he stood beside the door.

"C-Could I get your number?"

It was Kaneki's turn to stare blankly, blinking in surprise. He didn't have a phone, never really felt the need to have one. Last he remembered having a phone was when Jason had attacked Anteiku, and he'd been taken. He was always around the others, who had their own phones, so he never thought to get one himself.

"I don't own a phone," Kaneki said.

"You don't own a phone," Emmett echoed. He raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "Who doesn't have a phone nowadays?"

Kaneki simply shrugged, shutting the jeep door. He walked up to the front door of the cafe, unlocking the door with his key. He peeked over his shoulder. He couldn't see Emmett because of the bright headlights still shining. He was probably waiting for him to get inside before pulling off. Kaneki waved at him as he stepped inside.

He shut the door and leaned against it, sinking down with a sigh. It had been a long day and night, and he honestly didn't know what to make of most of its events—especially the most definitely not human Cullens. Kaneki stood and pulled one of the shades to the side a bit, peeking out in time to see the jeep and its headlights driving out of sight. His heart sort of clenched and sunk at the fact the man was gone, which caused Kaneki to growl, narrowing his eyes. What the hell was wrong with him?

He went upstairs, lost in thought, and almost ran straight into Yoma, who was standing in the living room. Kaneki took a step back, taking in his taller friend. His arms were crossed over his chest, and the look he was giving Kaneki had the white-haired male cringing. He felt like a child who'd been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to.

"We were worried about you. Touka only just went to bed an hour ago when I said I would wait to see when you'd return."

"I'm sorry, Yoma, really. It wasn't my intention to be out so late or to make you worry."

Yoma exhaled slowly and gently grabbed onto Kaneki's elbow and pushed him down onto the sofa.

"Hinami said you were acting strangely before you took off. And you come back in someone else's clothes? The person who dropped you off, I presume? You aren't usually so...trusting."

"I'm not."

Kaneki explained what had happened, again, leaving out his episode and his strange...feelings with the larger Cullen. He downplayed to him having a panic attack. Yoma stayed silent throughout the whole explanation, listening intently.

Kaneki was strangely calm around Emmett Cullen. Especially considering that he and his family were complete strangers. However, those feelings of comfortability didn't seem to go beyond Emmett. He'd gotten in a vehicle with them, a closed-off space. He even went into their home. Wore one of their clothes. It had Kaneki berating himself as he thought back on his actions through the night. He'd been reckless.

"You don't think they're human?" Yoma asked.

Kaneki shook his head. "They didn't smell like any humans I've come across or ghouls."

Yoma leaned back in thought. "They may not be a threat, based on how you've interacted with them."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaneki asked in a snappish tone.

Yoma raised an unamused yet knowing eyebrow. "Really, Kaneki. It's no secret how you act towards others outside of us three."

Kaneki was quiet after that. For what seemed like the thousandth time, he was forced to see how transparent he actually was. He clenched and unclenched his hands where they sat on his thighs. He stopped when he noticed Yoma's stare.

"So, what do you suppose we do?"

"Nothing. For now. They haven't posed a threat to us; if anything, they've been the exact opposite. So we will do the same."

Yoma got to his feet. "I'm heading out to Seattle and then Port Angeles to scout for potential feeding grounds. You go get some rest. I'm sure Touka will be on you as soon as she wakes. Hinami too."

Kaneki remained on the couch, and he watched Yoma grab his duffle bag from the hall closet.

"Be careful," Kaneki said as Yoma went downstairs.

The building fell back into silence, and Kaneki slouched back for a few more moments before going into him and Yoma's shared room. He stripped off the clothes the Cullens had provided him in favor of wearing his own pajamas. He tossed his dirty clothes and the Cullens' clothes in the hamper and placed his eyepatch on the desk. He'd return them at some point if he came across them again. And he most likely would. Small town, as Emmett had said.

He shut the blinds to block out the now rising early morning sun and crawled into bed. He curled onto his side, his back to the wall as he retreated into his own head. Much to his annoyance, his thoughts consisted mostly of the large, burly Cullen with his dark hair and golden eyes. Kaneki's eyes fell on the hamper, more specifically, the hoodie hanging over the side. His heart did that clenching thing again, and Kaneki felt his face redden.

Sliding off the bed, he padded over and gathered the hoodie into his arms. Before he could start overthinking, he pulled the hoodie back over his head and got back in bed. Curled on his side again, he inhaled that scent that surrounded him and calmed his nerves. And it was that scent that lulled him into a dreamless sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a rather short chapter, at least a bit shorter than the previous chapters, and I apologize for that. But it is an important chapter in a sense of setting up for future events in the story. So sorry for it being so short, but I do hope you still enjoy it!

Yoma was correct about Touka being on Kaneki as soon as she woke. She got up around 11 that morning, remembered the night and couple hours before she went to bed, and she was speeding off to Kaneki and Yoma’s room in an instant to see if he was there. If he was, she was ripping that man a new one. If not, the same results whenever she saw him next. He’d have to come home at some point.

Touka knew Yoma had gone out scouting for feeding grounds, and she doubted he’d be back until later on. So she didn’t hesitate to kick the door open, sending it slamming against the wall behind it.

“Hey, shitty Kaneki, what the hell--” 

She cut off her yelling mid-sentence and cringed as her eyes landed on the bed. Kaneki was curled up, the blanket halfway on his body, sleeping relatively peacefully from the looks of it. He hadn’t even stirred at the loud noise she’d been making.

She went over to the bed, staring down at the white-haired man who was her brother in everything but blood. Touka carefully lowered herself onto the edge of the mattress by his head. He didn’t even wake to the dipping of the bed. Kaneki not being woken up by the noise earlier was very out of character in itself, as he was a very aware person. Very in tune with his surroundings 99% of the time. Any slight change in the atmosphere would have tipped him off usually.

Just as carefully as before, she dropped her hand into his snowy white hair, and Touka smiled when Kaneki unconsciously pressed his head closer and nuzzled his hand further into her palm. Running her fingers softly through the strands, Touka noticed a different scent coming from the male. Looking down, she took in the very oversized hoodie Kaneki was wearing.

Yoma didn’t usually own any hoodies, especially none of that size. And it wasn’t a scent she was familiar with, so she didn’t think it was something Yoma would have bought at some point. 

Whose clothes would Kaneki be wearing? Wearing willingly at that. Touka contemplated waking him up to get her answers. He still needed to explain his whereabouts the night before too. But…

Touka’s fingers pressed into his scalp, massaging as Kaneki slept on. She couldn’t bring herself to disturb him. His sleeping habits were already trash, practically nonexistent. Even when he did sleep, it was never a deep one like he seemed to be in now. That’s what black-haired ghoul had observed over the years, at least. He’d always be woken up by the smallest things. Whether that be someone walking around the house or doors closing and opening down the hall.

For someone to be able to come into his space while he was asleep, to even be this close and touching him without so much as a twitch, Touka wondered what had gotten him so at ease. Whatever it was, it was doing him some good. Sleep wise, at least.

“Touka, is everything alright?” Hinami’s voice traveled down the hall. She’d been asleep in her and Touka’s room when she’d heard Touka’s phone going off, and then the yelling. Her face popped up in the open door seconds later. “I heard--”

“Shh!” Touka hissed, holding her finger to her lips. She felt Kaneki shift underhand before settling again.

“Oh,” Hinami said, her eyes falling on her big brother. “Sorry. Is he okay?”

Touka shrugged. “I guess. I didn’t wake him,” she whispered.

Hinami came over and sat by Kaneki’s feet.

“He slept through all that? He’s sleeping like the dead.”

Touka chuckled. “Yeah.” She leaned down and planted a kiss on Kaneki’s forehead, and turned to Hinami. “Come on, let’s get some work down. We can integrate the ‘suspect’ later.”

Hinami laughed and nodded, and they left the room, carefully shutting the door behind them. Hinami held out Touka’s phone, which she had shoved into her pajama shorts pocket before she’d left the room. 

“Yorika called.”

“Thanks,” Touka said, taking the device and going on the messaging app she used to keep in contact with everyone in Japan. International calls were pretty expensive, they realized.

She’d revealed that she was a ghoul to her highschool friend before they left. As much as she loved Kaneki, she didn’t want to make the same decision he’d made when dealing with Hide. Just disappear with no possibility of seeing that person again. Touka would rather have Yorika know the truth and hate her for lying to her for all their years of friendship than disappear without a word and leave her to worry, wondering what had become of her best friend.

Yorika had surprised her. Her instant reaction, after she’d sat and listen to Touka explain everything, was to start rapidly apologizing for having Touka eat the food she’d make when it only ended up making her sick. There had been a massive burst of relief exploding in her chest as she reassured her dearest friend that it was fine.

Last they’d spoken, a few weeks ago, she believed, Yorika was had been accepted into a culinary school that coming fall. Touka got her friend on a video call, and she and Hinami chatted with her as they worked around the cafe.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

Kaneki slowly woke from the inky, dead like sleep to squealing traveling through the house. It took a few minutes for his brain to bring itself out of its foggy state and caught up to what he was hearing. He jumped out of bed, tripping over the blanket wrapped around his legs. Out in the hall, he didn’t find anyone upstairs, so he went downstairs to find Hinami and Touka crowded together at the counter. They were jabbering with someone on the phone that was propped up against a salt shaker.

“Is everything okay?” He asked, making the two girls jumped.

“Oh, Kaneki, did we wake you?” Hinami asked guiltily as he walked up to them and peeked over her head at the phone screen. Yorika’s face greeted him.

“Kaneki, hello!” She waved with a wide grin on her face.

Kaneki waved back, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He was calmer now that he saw that nothing was wrong.

“Why all the ruckus?”

“Yorika’s engaged!” Touka stated happily, bouncing on the heels of her feet.

“Ah.” Kaneki turned back to the phone and smiled. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

The girls were back at their excited chatter. Kaneki, who wasn’t really into the whole wedding talk, slipped away into the back room and into the walk-in fridge. In the far back, placed away from the human food and hidden away in a container, they stored the human remains they collected. They were wrapped in their individual packaging. They didn’t want to just have a whole human body lying around.

It had been a while since he’d eaten. Once he was done, eating only as much as he found necessary, he returned to the cafe. He started making himself a cup of coffee when Touka approached him. Kaneki glanced over her shoulder at Hinami, who was still having a conversation with Yorika. 

Touka watched him start the process of the coffee. “You were sleeping like the dead,” she stated bluntly, leaning her hip against the counter.

“Was I?”

“Yeah, you were. What happened? Yesterday.”

Kaneki sighed, pouring the liquid in a circular motion, and pushed down his instant reaction of saying ‘nothing.’ He explained everything as he’d done with Yoma.

“I agree with Yoma,” Touka said once he’d finished. “If they don’t bother us, we won’t bother then.”

Kaneki nodded.

“That, however, doesn’t explain why you’re still wearing that man’s hoodie, though,” Touka said with a smirk. “Everett, you said his name was?”

“Emmett.” Kaneki cringed internally and visibly grimaced at his immediate correction. Touka’s smirk grew, but she had the decency to hold back her laugh. She watched as he dropped his sugar cubes into the coffee.

“Do you want one?” He asked.

He was trying to change the subject. Touka rolled her eyes and hit him with a deadpanned look. “No, but I do want you to stop avoiding the question.”

Kaneki looked to the side, taking a sip of his drink. Touka leaned towards him to try and meet his gaze, but he avoided it. 

Kaneki was...conflicted. He wanted to be honest with Touka. He felt that out of everyone in his family, she’d know why he was acting the way he was. But it was a habit of sorts to keep things to himself. And the last thing he wanted to do was make his family worry. The white-haired ghoul didn’t realize that that was precisely what made his family worry about him the most.

“I...I have nightmares...sometimes”--old news, Touka thought-- “Wearing this,” Kaneki said quietly, trying his best to be honest and not downplay it, “It makes me feel...calm, put me at ease I think. I think it has something to do with his scent, maybe? Or maybe just him in general...I-I don’t know how to explain it…”

Touka was silent, mostly because she didn’t know what to say. She honestly hadn’t expected him to actually explain himself. He would usually clamp up if he didn’t want to discuss something.

She grabbed the front of the hoodie and leaned in, and inhaled. She pulled her head back quickly as she got a noseful of an icy, sweet smell. She didn’t know where he was getting the word “calming” from when describing the scent. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but it did overwhelm her senses.

Well, she did practically shove the fabric in her own face, so maybe that was it. But she felt if she was around it long enough, she’d be able to smell it from across the room even and have it be just as potent as having it right under her nose.

And Kaneki had slept in it, and most likely had it on for at least an hour beforehand. Yet, it didn’t seem to bother him.

“That smells really fucking sweet and icy,” she confessed, holding her hand against her nose. “I don’t know how you managed to sleep buried in that all night.”

Kaneki shrugged at that, but his eyebrows furrowed. He and Touka’s thoughts coincided there. Now that he stopped and thought about it (there had been a lot going on at the time), all the Cullens had a sweet, icy smell to them. That was one of the reasons that tipped him off. It wasn’t the worst smell in the world, but it definitely not something you’d want to breathe indirectly. 

But it was Emmett’s scent, despite being exactly like the rest of his family (the ones he’d met at least), that had something different about it. And that ‘something,’ whatever it was, made Kaneki want to drown in it. Drown in the strange form of comfort it brought him.

“But it sounds to me like you might have a crush.”

That had Kaneki choking on his drink and abruptly slamming his cup down on the counter in front of him, coughing. The cup didn’t break, but it was loud and sudden enough to get Hinami’s attention and startle Touka as well.

Coffee sloshed over the edges of the cup, dripping onto the counter and the still-hot liquid running down his hands, which had him snatching his hand back. He cursed.

“Sorry,” he said quickly. “Sorry.”

Touka and Hinami watched him rushed to the sink and turn on the faucet, sticking his hand under the cold water. It wasn’t as painful as it should have been, thanks to Kaneki’s pain tolerance, but it still burned.

Touka grabbed a clean dishrag and wet it, then wrapped it around the burn on his hand. His ghoul healing had kicked in by now. The most that would be left behind would be pink patches where the coffee touched.

“Just adding more scars,” Kaneki said humourlessly.

Touka snorted. “Are you okay? I’m sorry if I hit a sour subject…”

Hinami came over after saying bye to Yorika. She took Kaneki’s cloth-wrapped hand from Touka.

“No, no, I’m fine,” Kaneki reassured Touka. “I just didn’t expect that.”

Kaneki turned to look at Hinami as Touka looking like she wanted to speak more, but took a step back and started cleaning up the mess Kaneki had made. Kaneki smirked down at the smaller girl.

“Aren’t I supposed to be the older brother here, taking care of you and being protective?”

“Trust me, you got those parts down packed. Perfect to a T.” Hinami gave a matching smirk. She then smiled, almost sadly. “You should let people take care of you,” she said.

She unwrapped his hand. They were healed now, leaving behind pink patches just like Touka had thought they would. They hadn’t hurt that much, to begin with. He was used to it, he guessed.

Kaneki placed his hand in Hinami’s hair, and he smiled softly. “There’s nothing to ‘take care of’ when it comes to me. But thank you.”

He kissed her forehead and was heading towards the stairs before Hinami could respond. “I’m going to shower.”

Kaneki, as soon as he was out of sight, stripped the hoodie from his body as if it were on fire. He didn’t care that it left him standing in the living room in only his pajama bottoms. He went into his room and tossed the hoodie in the laundry basket with the other clothes.

He couldn’t believe he’d just confessed all that out loud. And Touka had been so blunt too! He grimaced and blushed. He didn’t have a crush. Who had a crush on someone they didn’t even know? That was a stupid question. The real problem was why, out of everyone he knew (people who’d been there with him for years, at least ever since his life went to shit and onwards), did he find comfort in someone he’d just met?

Noone had succeeded in making him feel the way he was now. Not even Rize, who’d he’d actually had had a crush on. An exceptionally short-lived crush that he had gotten his hopes way to for, but a crush nonetheless. How naive he had been back then, he thought.

Kaneki retreated into the bathroom and soon found himself under the warm spray of water. He turned the water on hotter as he just stood there under the water, most likely overthinking the situation.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

Back downstairs, Touka had made herself and Hinami some coffee after cleaning up. She was fiddling with her phone.

“I hope I didn’t push him too far…” Touka sighed.

“It’s not like you said anything super out of pocket,” Hinami said.

“We don’t know that. Last crush Kaneki had literally tried to eat and kill him, which led to him being a ghoul. He might still be sensitive about the subject.” Touka shook her head. “I don’t want to put him through those memories again.”

She opened the messaging app again, wanting to call Yorika again. “Anyways, what were you and Yorika talking about when I was busy with Kaneki?”

“Just ideas for the wedding. She said she’d really like to have it a winter ceremony.”

“A winter wedding would be nice. I should call her back,” she said, pressing the video call button. She hoped she wasn’t busy and interrupting anything. She wanted to apologize for being distracted while she was still on the phone. That had been rude of her.

Besides, she needed to know the details of the wedding. She was going to be the maid of honor, after all.


	7. Chapter 7

"Oh, for the love of God, Emmett, could you kindly shut the fuck up," Edward said, annoyed, tapping his fingers against the piano keys.

"I second that," Jasper sighed. If he were human, he'd have a headache. He had the urge to rub his temples as if he did anyway.

The Cullen clan had thought that meeting his mate would calm Emmett down a bit. But it only seemed to make him worse. And being stuck in the house and away from town for the past few days didn't make it better. Sunny days were a rare sight for Forks, and the Sun decided to make itself known and come out.

"Sorry," Emmett muttered from his place, lounged out on the sofa. He knew his thoughts, as well as his emotions, were all out of whack lately. And amplified, if his brothers' frustrations had anything to say about it. The empathic and mind reader could sometimes have their powers overwhelmed.

During the occasionally sunny days, being in the house didn't usually bother him, but Emmett wanted to be with Kaneki. He had checked up on his mate at points throughout the days, restricted to the shadows of the woods, but he kept those visits short. He had no intentions of becoming a full-blown stalker, no matter how much Jasper joked that he already was.

"Oh, leave him be." Rosalie fell onto the sofa, sitting her weight on Emmett's legs. She smirked. "He was the exact same back when I first found him, and he joined the family. You remember, Edward."

"Unfortunately," Edward shuddered.

"I was not that bad." Emmett received four deadpanned stares. "You two weren't even here yet, so shut it!" Emmett snapped, pointing at Alice and Jasper.

Jasper snorted. "You say that like you too had chilled out even a little by the time we did show up. You didn't." A pillow was thrown at the empathic, which he simply dodged. Emmett laughed.

He and Rose had fallen into a "close friend" state of existence, pretty much the same they'd always been minus the romantic and sexual aspects of it. He thought she'd want to get away for a while. But she seemed fine just where she was. She'd said something about making sure Kaneki was 'right' for him and that Emmett didn't fuck up. Emmett caught an object that flew towards his face. A gaming controller. Looking up, Alice stood above him with the other controller. Immediately, Emmett began shaking his head.

"No, I'm not playing with you. You cheat."

"I do not! Besides, I'm tired of playing against Edward."

"I wonder why." Rolling his eyes, Emmett surrendered to playing a game of Cod against his pixie sister, which consisted of Alice predicting his every move. The split-screen gameplay already gave advantages, but he was no match for her visions.

After a few rather frustrating yet amusing rounds with his siblings, Emmett got up from the couch and left Rose playing against Edward.

He walked out onto the back porch and onto the grass where he sat and laid down in the sunlight, his arms crossed underneath his head. He wasn't out there long before he felt someone sit down beside him and a poke against his shoulder.

"Hey, you know we were just joking before."

Emmett glanced over at Edward, then over his shoulder through the living room windows to see that Jasper had taken his place on the gaming system. They were playing Mario Kart from the sound of it.

Emmett sighed. "No, it's fine. I forgot that you and Jasper's abilities can be overwhelmed easily."

And I'm positive me continually switching back and forth and my worrying is irritating, he thought.

"You're really conflicted about this, aren't you?"

Emmett chuckled. "How can you tell?"

"It's...It's not really about the situation as a whole, not anymore at least. I think I've pretty much gotten over the shock of it. That's not the issue."

"Then, what is?" Edward asked, blocking out Emmett's thoughts. He felt that digging for the answers wouldn't be welcomed right now.

Emmett stared upwards at the sky, trying to come up with the right words to try and explain what's going on in his head. "Clearly, this isn't going to work out the way it did with Rose and me, and I don't know how to go about this properly. I've never been with a man before; I doubt it's that different, but different still, I-" He ran his fingers through his hair. "He-He has scars too. Around his wrists. I thought it was poison ivy at first."

"He clearly has a past, trauma, and a lot of baggage. Rose had her issues, still does. I'm not trying to undermine her. But I feel like Kaneki's runs a lot deeper that from what I've seen, and I don't-"

Emmett let out a frustrated groan, glaring down. He watched his diamond-like glowing skin as he shifted his arm left and right before him in the sunlight. The light flashed in several directions, even in his eyes, but it didn't bother him. He felt his brother place a hand on his shoulder.

The mind reader had never seen his 'younger' brother like this before. He always put on the carefree persona, not really seeming like he care about much on the surface. So it was certainly not a sight Edward was used to seeing, his brother so unsure of his own actions and so nervous. It was so... un-Emmett-like.

But he could understand where the worry came from. This wasn't going to be a comfortable ride for him, not like it was with Rose. Not to say that Rose was an easy woman, not at all. But Kaneki and Rose were two different people from two different walks of life. The only reason it had come easy with Rosalie was that they'd both been turned at the time and under the assumption that they were mates.

Edward did wonder about that. Was this a common thing amongst their kind, or any other? There was the case of confusing one's singer as their mate, but that wouldn't be the case for his siblings. They both had been turned, at least they were when they'd actually met after Rose had brought Emmett to Carlisle. Perhaps it was just in general attraction? Not everyone came across their mates after all. Not if that mate was human. There's the possibility of that human dying before they got the chance to come across one another. But vampires still could end up with ones they love. Whether that be true mates or not.

And the love between Rosalie and Emmett had been there from the start, no doubt. Edward would have had to be blind to not see the obvious attraction the two had for each other throughout the years. They really had no shame.

Which was why he was still surprised at how calmly Rose was taking the entire situation. Maybe he wasn't meant to understand.

"I think you should just take it slow," Edward finally said. "It is a different territory than what you're used to, you're right. Just...don't get too ahead of yourself to the point you overwhelm yourself and Kaneki."

Emmett was silent for a moment. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Ed."

The two sat in silence, listening to the others continue their games inside.

"Ya know," Edward said, breaking that silence. "I might have a way that could help you a bit with Kaneki."

Emmett sat up. "What?"

Edward vanished into the house and was back in a second with a book in his hands. Emmett looked at him and the book skeptically. "Look, I get that Kaneki is most likely, like, super smart, but I don't think-"

Edward smacked the book against Emmett's head. "It's a book on the Japanese language, you idiot. I've been learning up on it because I believe his thoughts are hardwired to his native tongue. I've been doing a few online courses as well. It's not that hard to learn if you're determined. I thought maybe you'd like to learn a few things with me. Plus, it could show later down the line that you're interested enough in him to learn his language, and perhaps some of his culture, for him."

"I'm surprised you don't already know the language," said Emmett, taking the book from him.

"I never had a reason to," Edward shrugged. "The family always stuck to America and European countries, and I did the same when I was on my own for a bit..."

Edward trailed off as Alice internally bulldozed her way into his head. He looked behind him and caught the last seconds of glazed over eyes before she grinned and was in front of the windows. She disappeared behind the curtains as they were pulled closed.

Emmett was looking as well, confused, as soon all the curtains on the lower level of the house were closed one by one. "What's her problem?"

"Vision," Edward replied, and he smirked. "You're getting a chance. Don't fuck it up."

Emmett's eyebrows shot up, and he followed Edward back into the house. He was about to ask what Edward had meant when he heard tires rolling up the driveway. He went over and peeked between the curtains, successfully avoiding the rays of light that came through, and watched as the vehicle parked and a white head popped out.

He heard Alice giggle behind him. He turned to her. "Won't the closed curtains look weird considering you only shut them down here?"

"It'll be fine," Alice said, waving her hand dismissively. "Besides, the usually gloomy clouds will be back soon and stay. We'll open the curtains back up then. Unless you didn't want to see Kaneki today..."

"Of course I do," he grumbled, letting the shade fall back into place.

"Well, at least we can officially meet him now," Rosalie said from her spot on the sofa. Emmett searched her face. For what exactly, he didn't know.

"You-You're not going to embarrass me, are you?" He asked uncertainly.

"We'll see."

"Rooooooossssseeee," Emmett whined, walking over to her with a pout on his face. He ignored the doorbell ringing and Esme coming downstairs to answer it. Carlisle was gone for a business trip or something like that.

"What?" Asked Rose in an innocent tone. Emmett rolled his eyes. He knew what she was doing, and he hoped she wouldn't be too aggressive. Rose did have a perfected resting bitch face and usually come off as unapproachable. She never did anything to come off as otherwise, either.

While Emmett was distracted by Rose, Esme came through with Kaneki, who was hesitantly following her. He held the folded clothes he'd been lent in his arms. He spotted Jasper and held them out to him; Esme had mentioned that they had been his.

"Thank you," Jasper said, taking them from the smaller man. Emmett's hoodie sat on top, which he threw at Emmett, hitting him in the back of the head, snapping him out of his bickering, and looking up.

Kaneki still stood in the room's archway, much like he did the night they found him. He wore a gray, somewhat baggy shirt, brown khaki pants, and sneakers. He gave a small hesitant wave. "I came to bring back the clothes you let me borrow."

Before Emmett could respond, Esme asked, "Would you like anything? Water? Something to eat?"

Kaneki's face twitched, almost a look of disgust, as he shifted awkwardly on his feet. "No, I'm alright. I just came to bring back the clothes..."

"I insist," said Esme. "Besides, I don't think you got the chance to meet my daughters yet."

"Um, no, I haven't."

Alice was no longer able to contain herself, it seemed, and she approached Kaneki cautiously, but still with her usual enthusiasm. "Hi, I'm Alice. It's nice to finally meet you; we've heard so much about you."

She held out a hand for him to shake, which he took. "Kaneki."

Alice gestured over to the blonde woman. "And that's Rosalie."

"Hello."

Rose nodded at him in response, and Emmett gave a small wave, breathing it a bit easier because of Rosalie's reaction. Perhaps she wasn't going to be as tricky about this as he first thought.

"Um, again, thank you for your help and generosity. I really appreciate it. But I should really get going," Kaneki said.

"Really? We don't get newcomers here often. The last new family to move in was us. We'd love to get to know you more and your family." Alice was pouting. Emmett could practically see Kaneki melt on the spot from the look he was getting. It was hard to deny Alice, especially those from outside the family, as they had little experience with her and how to ignore her.

Kaneki finally lamented. "Alright."

Alice grinned and, making sure Kaneki saw her movements, grabbed onto his arm and pulled him further into the living room, pushing him down onto the smaller couch that Emmett had occupied.

"Subtle," Emmett said under his breath. Alice stuck her tongue out at him.

"Are you sure you don't want anything, dear?" Esme asked again.

"Uh, coffee, if you have it."

Most likely, they did. They didn't usually keep food in the house. No one was able to eat it, so it would just go to waste. But Esme had taken it upon herself to stock the kitchen for Kaneki and his family's sake. But mostly because of Kaneki. Esme smiled, and with an "of course," she went off towards the kitchen.

How much food did she even stock up on for one human? Emmett thought towards Edward.

"Let's just say that Alice had to stop her from going overboard," whispered Edward. "We could barely keep Alice from going on a shopping spree out of town for him the other day."

Cullen women are insane.

"So," Rosalie said. "What made you decide to move to Forks of all places?"

Kaneki, who'd been sitting picking at black paint nails, looked up at the blonde. "A change in scenery, I guess. My family was ready to settle someplace."

"From Japan?" Alice asked. She smiled sheepishly when Kaneki blinked at her. "As I said, we've heard a lot about you. Emmett here wouldn't shut up about it."

Kaneki glanced at the mentioned man, a red tint appearing on his face, while Emmett gave a slightly embarrassed grunt as he glared at the pixie. Kaneki nodded slowly in acknowledgment of her previous question. Esme returned to the living room then, carrying a steaming mug of coffee.

"This must be a very different experience for you then," She said as she placed the mug on the coffee table in front of the white-haired man. "I didn't know how you usually drank your coffee, so I only added some french vanilla and sugar."

"Thank you," he said. "And yes, we mostly stuck to cities until now. It's certainly quieter."

"We moved here ourselves about a year ago for my husband's job."

Kaneki hummed. "Are you staying here long as well?"

Emmett's eyes snapped to his mother and flicking between his family members' faces. They hadn't brought up the fact that they'd eventually have to move on from Forks. But if Kaneki planned on staying, Emmett wasn't exactly inclined to leave when the rest of the family had to. Emmett cursed his immortality right then and waited for an answer to the question.

Esme pondered for a moment. "Well, we definitely are staying put until the kids have graduated at the very least. But something has come up recently that has perhaps prolonged our stay."

Kaneki paused, and his eyebrows shot up. He'd just started to lean forward for the mug, but he leaned back, looking at all the younger Cullens. "You're all still in high school?" His gaze flicked to Emmett, then quickly away. Emmett caught the look of something on his face but couldn't identify it.

"Yeah," Jasper said, understanding dawning on him. Jasper mouthed to Emmett while Kaneki wasn't looking. 'He thought we were all around the same age as him.'

Emmett's eyes widened in realization. Kaneki, if he was genuinely attracted to Emmett, must be thinking he was creeping on some minor, an underaged kid, now. The utter look of mortification that fell on his face confirmed that.

Emmett was quick to try and explain, at least explain, without revealing him and his family. He couldn't exactly say what his actual age is. And he didn't want to give his physical age of 20. What twenty years old was still in high school? He didn't wish Kaneki, who was clearly a knowledgeable man, to think he was too stupid to graduate highschool. He wasn't; he'd graduated many times before. But he couldn't exactly tell him that, can he?

So he'd stick with the original story his family always went with. He'd tell Kaneki the truth eventually. He just hoped all this lying wouldn't come back to bite him down the road. "Edward, Alice, and Jasper are going to be juniors this coming school year. Rose and I are seniors."

This did little to get that look off Kaneki's face, and he gave a nervous laugh, running a hand over his face. His fingers went underneath the eyepatch over his eye. Emmett wondered if it would be rude to ask about it.

"And here I thought all of you were adults."

"Well, Em and I are, technically. He turned 18 back in March, and I just turned about a month ago," Rosalie said.

Kaneki put down his hand with another breathy laugh. "In Japan, they don't legally consider you an adult until you're 20."

He finally leaned forward and grabbed the mug. The back of his shirt pulled up a bit from the movement revealing the small of his back and a black material--it looked like a form-fitting leather--that started at the middle of the small of his back and disappeared underneath the pants. It also started again at his side and looked like it went around the front of his body.

Emmett's mind went blank, then erupted, much to his brothers' exasperation and amusement.

Bodysuit bodysuit bodysuitbodysuit. He wears bodysuits-

Kaneki leaned back to his original position with the mug in his hands, long fingers wrapped around the sides, completely unaware of the inner spiral he'd just send the largest Cullen into.

Kaneki took a sip of the warm coffee. It was store-bought, Kaneki could tell. It wasn't bad, just not as good as what they usually had at Anteiku. Maybe he was slightly biased.

Emmett was a teenager. He'd been thinking about a child, like a fucking creep. Well, not technically a child. He was 18, going on 19 next March. But compared to Kaneki's 24, soon to be 25, he couldn't help but see him as such. Then again, was it wrong of him to do that? He knew he had hated it himself when he was that age, but he couldn't exactly argue against that point at the time. At least before Rize. After that, though still naive, he'd seen too much. He'd always been mature for his age, though Kaneki had come to realize that that was a fancy way of saying 'traumatized.'

It took all of Kaneki's strength not to bury his face in his hands. Emmett did seem...mature beneath the comfortable air he produced. Kind of like Kaneki, but amplified. Like he'd lived several adult lifetimes. Speaking of Emmett, Kaneki could feel the man's gaze on him like a beacon light.

A choking sound came from Edward across from them, and Jasper groaned under his breath. "Emmett." His voice was muffled behind the hand that was covering his face. Kaneki felt like he was missing something. Emmett shifted beside him, a guilty expression on his face, and the girls giggled. Okay, he definitely must have missed something. Maybe it was an inside family joke or something?

"Sorry," Emmett grunted.

"Honestly, Em, you're so hopeless," Edward smirked.

Jasper gave a matching one. "Thank God, he'll be out of the house and graduated by the time anything happens. It'll spare our ears and minds."

Kaneki blinked in bewilderment. Then a pillow went sailing across the room, which was caught and thrown back. Before he knew it, Kaneki was witnessing Emmett and Edward on the ground. Emmett clearly had the upper hand in strength with this sudden wrestling match before Jasper joined in, teaming up with Edward against Emmett.

A sense of concern filled Kaneki's chest as their bodies bumped roughly against surrounding furniture. Thankful that he had picked up his coffee when he did as a knee slammed into the coffee table. But the others of the family present did not share his concern. They didn't even bat an eye at the three fighting boys, besides Mrs. Cullen speaking in a raised voice that if they broke anything, they'd have hell to pay.

"Don't worry," Alice laughed. "They're always like this."

"They aren't going to hurt each other?" Kaneki questioned, lifting his leg in time to avoid the arm swinging in his direction.

"Yeah," Rosalie said. The blonde sat down in the place Emmett had once occupied, keeping a little space in between them. "But they know each other's limits. Very rarely do they hurt each other."

Kaneki snorted, turning his gaze back to the boys still on the ground. Edward and Jasper were winning, by the looks of it. It reminded him of Hide a bit. Hide had never been afraid to get physical with Kaneki. Kaneki could remember Hide engaging him in their own wrestling match if you could call them that. It was mostly just Kaneki being pinned to the ground by Hide. He never caused him any harm, of course; he only did it to tease him, especially for being able to be manhandled so easily.

Even when he became half-ghoul and becoming more physically robust than most humans and his childhood friend, he still allowed Hide to wine during these moments. Partly because Hide looked like he enjoyed it, and the other part was Kaneki still being afraid of hurting him.

Alice wandered over to the windows suddenly and opened the curtains. The sunlight that had been shining the past few days had finally been covered by a thick layer of clouds. Kaneki wondered if it would rain. Rose, when she noticed that Emmett was losing, smirked. "Alice, I don't think it's fair that your boyfriend jumped in something between Edward and Em."

"You just don't like the fact that he's losing." came a reply from the pixie as she finished opening the curtains and sat back down. "He's fine."

Kaneki's eyebrows furrowed. "Boyfriend?"

He thought they were all siblings. Kaneki took no notice of the fight stopping abruptly. Emmett, sprawled out underneath the weights of his two brothers, stared at Kaneki in a panic.

"We're all adopted," Alice explained slowly, seeing the confusion. "Rosalie and Jasper are twin brother and sister; Hales. Edward, Emmett, and I are Cullens."

Alice got up from where she'd been seated with Esme and walked over to the trio, grabbing Jasper's hand and pulling him up. She wrapped her skinny arms around his middle. "Jasper and I are dating."

"Edward needs to go get him someone," Emmett mumbled, bucking his butt upwards, but Edward stayed unmoving on his back. "Maybe getting laid would finally get that sick from up his ass."

"Emmett," scolded Esme.

"I said what I said," Emmett shrugged. He smirked up at his brother, rearing up again. "You know I'm right, Eddie boy. How about you hit up that blonde girl, Tanya? She seems more than willing-"

Edward, with perhaps more force than necessary, pushed Emmett's face into the rug. "Shut up."

"So, are you and Emmett dating then?" Kaneki asked out of the process of elimination. Kaneki was pretty sure that this wasn't exactly...legal. He'd never been around adoptive families or their situations before, but Kaneki was somewhat confident in this thought. Maybe things worked differently in America? It wouldn't be the first difference he'd discovered in his time here. The twins were under a different last name, so does it not count?

"Um..." Rose and Emmett exchanged a look, and after receiving a brief nod from Emmett, she turned back to Kaneki. "We used to," she admitted. "But we broke up."

"Is that legal?" The blunt question flew from Kaneki's mouth before he could stop it. Slapping a hand over his mouth, Kaneki raised his other hand in front of him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's none of my business. That was really rude of me."

Emmett didn't know whether to panic over them, admitting that Rose and he used to be together or the abrupt question that just left his mate's mouth. Edward got off of him as apologies flew from Kaneki's lips. "No, no, it's fine!" Emmett said quickly, getting off the floor himself. "It was just unexpected!"

They'd never really had to explain themselves before.

"Jasper and Alice were dating before he and Rose were adopted. So were Rose and I, so we weren't really raised as siblings together, if-if that makes any sort of sense."

They all stood in anxious stillness as they watch Kaneki, who looked to be mulling over the information he'd just been given.

This is it, Emmett deemed after a moment. We've weirded him out. He's disgusted with us, of me. And I've only known him for a few days! Wow...new record...at least he got to know him a little, it'd been a nice-

"That...makes sense." Kaneki's voice brought Emmett out of his thoughts. He was taking a sip of his coffee. "I'm sorry if I seemed judgemental; I wasn't trying to. I've just never come across a family such as yours."

Emmett let out a hushed breath of relief, and the others relaxed as well from the tense state they didn't know they had entered.

It wasn't his life, nor did he know of theirs, Kaneki thought. It wasn't his place to judge the way they chose to live it. Besides, why should he care to begin with?

"What about you?" Edward asked.

"Me?"

"Yes, you," he spoke with a chuckle. He looked over at Emmett swiftly before he continued; Kaneki almost didn't catch it. "Any significant other? You mentioned someone named Touka before."

Edward disregarded Emmett's glare and him telling him to shut up in his thoughts. These are questions that needed to be asked, after all. Nothing wrong with asking. Thankfully for Emmett, Kaneki shook his head. "No, Touka is just a friend." He smiled softly. "There may have been something there in the past, a potential for more, but not anymore. It grew into more of a sibling relationship than anything else. I don't know what I'd do without her."

Kaneki downed the last of the coffee and glanced at the watch on his wrist. "I really should get back. Touka and Hinami wanted to go around Port Angeles later on, so they need the car."

Alice suddenly stood in front of him, wide-eyed and leaning over him slightly. Was it sad that the small girl intimidated him a bit? 

"Shopping?"

"Um, I think so? Hinami likes to on occasion."

"Could I come along?" Alice proposed eagerly. "I've only ever really shopped with Rose, but she isn't as into it as I am. I'd love to meet your family anyway."

"I-I don't know..." Kaneki looked anywhere but Alice's wide eyes. The puppy dog look and the molten gold was a strange yet effective combination.

"We could call them and ask," she suggested.

"I don't have a phone, so I can't..."

"You really weren't kidding about that?" Alice asked Emmett in disbelief. Kaneki made a face--definitely not pouting! He had a feeling he was being made fun of here.

"I've never had a reason to have one," he said defensively, standing to his feet and crossing his arms over his chest. He didn't appreciate the amused looks he was receiving right now. The nerve of these people!

"Well, now, you do!"

Kaneki raised an eyebrow. Another reminder of Hide flashed through his mind. Much like Hide, Alice had a persistent nature to her. He took a slight step to the side, only to bump into something hard. The 'something' was Emmett if the body tingles hadn't given him away. Emmett immediately moved back out of Kaneki's bubble, which he was grateful for. One person in his space was enough at the moment. Emmett gave a smile, rubbing the back of his neck. For some reason, Kaneki could feel his cheeks grow warm, and his stomach do a weird flip at the sight.

"Don't gang up on him like that, Alice," he said to his sister. "Sorry, but she rarely takes no for an answer. Best just go along with it."

Kaneki sighed, feeling overwhelmed with now two golden puppy dog eyes staring him down. "I guess it wouldn't hurt for you to come by and ask..."

He barely had gotten the sentence out when Alice let out a sound of joy before running upstairs and soon reentering with her shoes on. 

"Alright, let's go!" She exclaimed, latching on to Kaneki's arm carefully like before and pulling him towards the door. He barely had time to put the mug back on the coffee table.

"Wait," Emmett called, following his sister and his mate into the front hall. "What about me?"

Alice stepped in his way. "You had your chance to spend time with him already," she hissed.

"Barely," Emmett hissed back.

"You don't even like shopping!"

"Perhaps I'm ready to try new things! And you know that's not why--"

"Um, I really should be heading back," Kaneki said, a hand over his lips, trying to stifle his laughter.

"Sorry," Emmett said. Seems like he'd been apologizing a lot lately. "Alice, I--"

"See you later!" And Alice was out the door with Kaneki, pulling him towards the vehicle, Kaneki stumbling a bit to keep up with the hyperactive girl. Emmett stood in the hall for a few moments in disbelief as the car pulled out of the driveway.

"Ugh, I can not fucking believe her!"

"Emmett, language!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This month has been hectic, to say the least, so sorry for the delay! But I finally got this chapter done and am in the works with the next one! I don't know how I feel about this chapter tbh, but I hope you all still enjoy it!
> 
> I wanna do something I've seen another writer on here do at the end of their chapters, which is asking questions to get to know their readers more. 
> 
> Soooo, what are your all's favorite colors? I like a lot of grays and blacks, mostly neutral colors lol.
> 
> Also, this is a link to a picture I used for describing the bit about Kaneki's bodysuit (which is actually just his battle suit he still wears under his clothes lol): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/563018682543920/


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kindly let me know if some of this is hard to read! I've been trying to fix the formatting, but it's not cooperating lol but I'll fix it

"Are you interested in my brother?"

The straightforward and out of nowhere question forced Kaneki to steel himself from jerking the steering wheel to the side. A good thing, too, as they were just passing a large 18 wheeler.

"I- what?" Kaneki stuttered out, managing to safely park in the lot in front of the cafe. He turned his head towards the pixie girl in the passenger seat, and she raised an eyebrow at him, smiling. She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door.

"I didn't stutter," she said.

Kaneki stared after the strange girl before getting out of the car to walk her into the building.

"So...are you?" Alice asked again. "These are important questions here, Kaneki!"

"I don't see how-"

"Is he what?" Touka came downstairs, pausing as she took in the sight of Alice. Before Kaneki could speak, Alice went over to Touka, much like she did with Kaneki, just not as cautious he noticed.

"I'm Alice Cullen. It's nice to finally meet you," she said. "Touka, right?"

"Yeah," Touka said, sending a look over Alice's shoulder at Kaneki. "Nice to meet you too. I hope he hasn't been too much trouble."

"Excuse me?!"

The two girls ignored him.

"Oh no, he's been great. I hope to actually have him around more, especially if my assumptions are correct..." she trailed off as she looked at Kaneki, wiggling her eyebrows and smirking. Kaneki flushed.

"Assumptions?" Touka questioned as she put her purse on the counter. She had her own smirk forming on her face, making Kaneki remember the conversation that morning two days ago.

"It's nothing," Kaneki huffed at the same time Alice said, "He likes my brother."

"Alice!"

"Am I wrong?"

"You mean that Emmett guy you've been talking about recently?" Touka inquired, her voice holding that false innocence, but her smirk said otherwise. "That's what I thought too."

That had Alice rounding on Kaneki fully. "So you've been talking about him."

"Not like that! I just-"

Kaneki huffed again, somewhat annoyed. It wasn't a god damned crush! It-Well, he didn't know what it was exactly. He barely knew this man. But he guessed that the way he'd been acting recently would give someone that thought. Emmett did intrigue him, he supposed.

"Anyways!" He said, in a strong attempt to change the subject. "Alice wanted to tag along to Port Angeles with you guys."

"I hope I'm not intruding," Alice said quickly, seeming to drop the previous subject to Kaneki's relief. "I can usually only get my sister to go out shopping with me, and even she has her limits." She chuckled.

"No, it's fine," Touka replied. "More the merrier."

"I'm sure Hinami would love to have someone that will be going to school with her. Where is she anyway?"

"In the back," Touka answered and glanced at Alice. "You're still in high school?"

Kaneki slipped away into the back room while the two girls talked. Hinami had just exited the walk-in fridge when Kaneki entered. Grabbing a paper towel from a nearby shelf, Kaneki started to wipe Hinami's still lightly stained mouth.

"Messy as usual," Kaneki chuckled. Hinami reached up and hit the back of his neck with a laugh.

"Thanks," she said before walking over to the sink to wash her hands.

"Is Yoma here," Kaneki asked, leaning against the counter.

"Yeah, he's upstairs taking a nap if you wanted to talk to him."

Kaneki shook his head. "No, I was just wondering. By the way, Alice Cullen invited herself to Port Angeles with you guys. I hope that's alright; she's going to Forks High too."

"That's great! Someone to show me the ins and outs around here. I just need to go brush my teeth before we leave." She wiped her hands on a clean towel, smiling. "Are you coming?"

Kaneki shrugged. "I have nothing better to do. I'll be out in a bit. I want to make sure everything is cleaned up."

Hinami nodded, the ponytail her hair was pulled back into, swaying with the movement. She went out, and Kaneki walked into the fridge, making sure everything was in order and that the fridge was closed shut tightly behind him. Hinami was back downstairs by the time Kaneki was finished.

Kaneki blinked at the look Alice had on her face. She sat on one of the stools at the counter, looking from Kaneki, the door to the back, and Hinami, standing by Touka. Her nose was flaring slightly, rapidly, and her eyebrows were pulled together towards the middle like she was concentrating hard.

"You okay?" Kaneki asked cautiously, not really able to read on the girl's emotions behind the expression. Alice nodded rather slowly, eyes still shifting.

"Sorry, I thought..." She trailed off. "Nevermind, it's nothing."

A smile appeared on her face as if what Kaneki had seen hadn't been there in the first place. "Let's get going?"

\---------------------------------------------

Emmett 6:49 p.m.

Im rlly sorry about my sis

she can be rlly…

overwhelming sometimes.

Kaneki 6:50 p.m.

Do the members of your family usually buy things for people they don't know?

Emmett 6:50 p.m.

Nope

ur different

besides, she only paid for the phone itself

not the plan

tho im sure my fam wouldnt mind taking on ur bill if u would let them

Kaneki 6:52 p.m.

Absolutely not.

I only let her because Touka and Hinami sided with her.

Kaneki 6:53 p.m.

What do you mean by "I'm different"?

Emmett 6:54 p.m.

…

idk

U just are

Kaneki sat blinking at the screen of his new phone, confused at what to respond with. Different...

He couldn't decipher whether Emmett meant that as a good or bad thing.

Kaneki did end up going with the girls to Port Angeles that afternoon, much to Alice's delight. As...' unthreatening' the Cullens and the Hales seemed to be, it did not mean that Kaneki trusted the members around his own. He didn't want to leave Touka and Hinami alone with someone they'd only just met.

They went from store to store, with no ending in sight if Alice had a say. She practically tried to buy them a whole new wardrobe, which they had declined. They did buy a couple of things that the pixie suggested, and Kaneki had a feeling that 'no' wouldn't be an option if there was a next time. The Cullens saying that Alice likes shopping was a major understatement.

Kaneki, however, could not stop Alice from buying him a cell phone, especially when Touka and Hinami seemed to be on her side of things. Something about it being time for him to have one and that he should take her up on the offer.

Touka was firm about wanting Kaneki to have a legit form of contact with the others since they were settling in a new town and they may not be around each other all the time. Kaneki had a feeling that it was also in case he decided to pull a "disappearing act," as Touka called it.

And Kaneki believed Alice had more intentions behind the action, but he relented in the end.

By the time they left, Kaneki had a new phone with the "necessary" accessories. The phone had been added to the family plan. Could they really blame him for feeling guilty, even after Alice explained that her family had more money than they knew what to do with sometimes? One phone purchase meant nothing. Kaneki had responded, saying that he didn't really like people spending money on him for things he didn't need.

But apparently, he did need this. Kaneki begged to differ but thanked Alice still. He drove Alice home after dropping Touka and Hinami off at the cafe. Alice spent the trip setting up his phone for him, downloading things Kaneki doubted he'd ever use. Still, he didn't have the heart to spoil her enjoyment of the simple task.

Kaneki left immediately after dropping her off, claiming he was tired. He bid the family goodbye for the second time that day, and another thank you to Alice before pulling off. He had only been back home for a good 30 minutes when his phone pinged. Apparently, Alice had put in her and her family's contact information, which reminded him to add his own family'.

Kaneki 7:02 p.m.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Emmett 7:04 p.m.

Good

definitely good

Kaneki 7:05 p.m.

Oh.

\--------------------------------------------

Kaneki awoke later that night, or rather that super early morning, to a repeating low jingle going off that stopped and started with a few seconds in between. He quietly sat up, his eyes roaming across the room. Yoma's large form created a hump under the blankets on his bed on the other side of the room, the only movement coming from his slow, steady breathing.

Kaneki rubbed his eyes and looked to his side as the jingle sounded again and then stopped. Then sounded again. Picking up his phone, he turned on the screen to the text app that was still open from hours before. Three dots in a bubble appeared at the bottom of the text thread he had with Emmett, setting the sound off again.

Kaneki turned the volume down a bit, so he didn't have to worry about waking Yoma. It seemed like Emmett kept trying to type something, only to go back and erase it, changing his mind over and over again. Kaneki couldn't bring himself to be upset about being woken up so abruptly in the middle of the night. It had gotten him out of his dreams before he'd sunk too deep to escape.

Kaneki 3:22 a.m.

Just say what you want to say.

The dots stopped again, then reappeared. Only this time, it was actually followed by a message.

Emmett 3:22 a.m.

Im sorry

did I wake u?

Kaneki 3:23 a.m.

No.

Well, yes, but it's okay. I don't sleep for long periods anyway.

Why aren't you sleeping? You need sleep for your young developing mind.

Emmett 3:23 a.m.

It's summer

Anywaysssssss

srry for waking u

I just like talking to u and i wanted to ask u something

just dont know how to phrase it

Emmett 3:24 a.m.

forgot it was so late lol

...im spamming

srry

Kaneki 3:25 a.m.

I said it was fine.

What did you need to ask?

Emmett 3:25 a.m.

U talk rlly proper

like even thru text

its kinda cute, honestly

Kaneki 3:26 a.m.

Emmett.

What did you want to ask?

Emmett went silent for a long moment. Kaneki could see that he'd read the message due to the 'read' signature and the time stamp below his message. Maybe he changed his mind?

Emmett 3:30 a.m.

Can I take u on a date?

Kaneki did a double-take, blinking fast. Even rubbing his eyes and then squinting at the screen to see if he'd read that correctly.

Kaneki 3:33 a.m.

Is this a joke?

Emmett 3:33 a.m.

No?

Kaneki 3:34 a.m.

I'm a bit old for you…

Emmett 3:35 a.m.

im an adult, dude

Kaneki huffed.

Kaneki 3:35 a.m.

Barely.

You're still in high school.

Emmett 3:38 a.m.

And?

Emmett 3:38 a.m.

look I get where ur coming from

but im being completely serious here

Kaneki 3:40 a.m.

I highly doubt your family would be very supportive of you pursuing someone 6 years older than you.

I don't want to cause any issues.

Find someone your own age?

Emmett 3:41 a.m.

So u r interested?

And I dont want anyone here

anyone my age at least

I want u

and my family wouldnt care as long as im happy

Kaneki groaned, stilling when Yoma stirred at the noise before settling again. He relaxed and stared down at the phone screen. He couldn't believe this guy right now. And he definitely couldn't believe the fact that he was considering this deep down! 'I want u'...why did that simple statement make his heart skip a beat?

Had he not learned his lesson the first time around? Though he knew that Emmett wasn't human (he really needed to start some research), unlike him, not realizing Rize was a ghoul until it was too late.

History tended to repeat itself if you don't heed the consequences of the past.

The phone pinged several times in a row, again bringing his attention back.

Emmett 3:46 a.m.

please?

Just one date

Emmett 3:49 a.m.

Kaneki?

u there?

Emmett 3:53 a.m.

u can say no obviously

im not trying to pressure u or anything if u truly arent interested

ill understand

Kaneki felt his heart clench. Was he serious? Kaneki bit his lip, staring off for a moment.

Kaneki 3:55 a.m.

What did you have in mind?

Emmett 3:55 a.m.

really?

Kaneki 3:56 a.m.

Yes.

Emmett 3:57 a.m.

Oh k

Wow

didnt think u were actually going to say yes after all that

?

But consider it a surprise

when r u free?

I know u have the cafe stuff to work on

A surprise...great…

Kaneki sighed. Knowing the typical dates people went on, there would be a restaurant involved. He guessed he could suck it up for one evening...God, he was really setting himself up for disaster here, wasn't he?

Kaneki 4:00 a.m.

Could I get back to you on that?

My days usually just go by whatever Touka has me doing.

Emmett 4:01 a.m.

no rush ?

thanks

Kaneki 4:02 a.m.

I didn't do anything.

Emmett 4:02 a.m.

For giving me a chance

u have a ton of reasons not to

valid ones

Just…

Emmett 4:03 a.m.

Thanks ?

A soft smile appeared on Kaneki's face.

Kaneki 4:04 a.m.

Go to sleep, Emmett

\---------------------------------------------

Hinami, with her hair still in her ponytail from yesterday only messier, wandered downstairs around 7 the next morning, craving a nice cup of coffee. She crouched down in front of the counter to grab a mug. When she popped her head back up with a yawn, she nearly dropped the cup in her hand as her eyes took in Kaneki's still form sitting on one of the stools.

"Kaneki!" She exclaimed, taking a breath. She swore the man was like a ghost sometimes. "What are you doing?"

The white-haired man hummed in question, turning his head towards her. He seemed to have just realized that she'd entered the room.

"Oh, Hina. Good morning," he said. "I'm just thinking... couldn't sleep."

Hinami looked at him closely. "Oh okay."

Hinami started making her coffee, grabbing another mug from under the cabinet for Kaneki. She kept an eye on her big brother while she worked. He stayed seated on his stool, staring out the windows across the room. Hinami went and sat on the chair next to him, placing his mug on the counter in front of him. He looked down at it, then at her, smiling softly.

"Thank you." He picked up the mug. Kaneki's hair was messy from sleep, much like hers, though Hinam had a feeling he'd been up for a while now. A throw blanket was draped over one shoulder and around his waist. They sat in silence for a while, just watching as the sky got brighter with the morning sun.

Forks had returned to its normal cloudy state, the sun practically blocked out entirely with the blanket of clouds. Hinami wondered if it was going to rain today; it certainly looked like it would.

"I was asked out on a date this morning," Kaneki stated suddenly. Hinami blinked over in surprise at him, the comfortable silence abruptly broken by the seemingly out of nowhere statement.

"I-Okay. That's unexpected," she blurted.

She saw Kaneki kind of shrink back a bit at the comment.

"I didn't mean it like that," she said quickly. "You're a handsome, sweet guy. Anyone would be lucky to have you, and I'm surprised no one has snatched you up yet."

She laughed. "I just didn't expect you to bring something like that up. You've never really shown interest in it after...Who was it?"

"Emmett Cullen."

"Alice's brother?"

Kaneki nodded.

"Okay...well, what did you say."

"No...at first. He kind of convinced me into at least one date."

Hinami took a sip of her coffee. "Why? You really shouldn't get his hopes up if you truly aren't interested, Kaneki," she said gently.

"I wouldn't have said yes if that was the case. I'm not usually so easily convinced. Emmett's just...I don't know how to explain it. But I'm older than him, and he isn't human, nor is his family. Though he claims that they won't be an issue and would be supportive...which is-"

"Am I being stupidly reckless?" He voiced.

Hinami thought for a moment, chewing on her inner cheek. She wanted to say this correctly. Kaneki had opened up to her, which was a feat in itself. She usually just stuck to that silent support. "It's also Rize holding you back, isn't it?"

She could feel Kaneki's gaze on her, and she met his eyes. Hinami never got the full story of what happened to Kaneki, besides the basics she'd gotten from Touka and the others. She'd been young, and it was a need to know basis back then. She had no business involved with it. But she knew that many of Kaneki's issues always seemed to make their way back to Rize one way or another.

"I don't think you're reckless. I think you're healing. Healing enough that you're taking risks in place that you've completely closed off the notion for long ago. You're letting someone in, in a way. You said yes to a date. Emmett and his family haven't hurt you, or us, at any point of knowing them so far. I can't say that it couldn't happen, because no one can predict the future. But you're willing to take the risk, and I'm behind you no matter what. Emmett seems to have caught your attention, something no one has done since Rize that I've noticed. And clearly, he's interested in pursuing you."

Hinami placed her cup down and took Kaneki's bigger hand in hers, brushing his bangs out of his eyes with her other hand. Brown met gray. She smiled. "Just do what you believe will make you happy."

Kaneki's eyes watered, his eyebrows furrowing as he clenched those eyes shut, placing his own mug down with a trembling hand. "I-"

A faint choking sound erupted from his chest, and he opened his eyes again, a few tears falling from them and down his cheeks. The hand that held Hinami's tightened its grip. "... I'm scared," he got out. "I don't want to go through that again."

"Oh, Kaneki..." Hinami pulled Kaneki forward with a tug, wrapping her arms around him. His body was tense, but he didn't pull away. Kaneki let her hold him, his face pressed into her neck and shoulder, and his body was shaking as muffled cries sounded.

And Hinami held him as tightly as he held her. She whispered soft, comforting words in his ear. She didn't push him to talk more; had it been Touka or Yoma who found him and spoke to him, Kaneki would have shut down and closed up, she knew.

But Kaneki was healing; she was sure of it. What had triggered it, Hinami didn't know. Maybe it was Emmett, perhaps it was settling here in Forks. Or maybe it had all just become too much for Kaneki to keep in and handle by himself. Whatever it was, Hinami would be there for him in any way he may need.

Kaneki had said something once; it was years ago when they'd first met, during one of their reading lessons. She was sure that he hadn't meant anyone to hear him.

But it was something about tragedy always happening to the people who least deserved it, those who had already suffered enough in their lives. He'd said it with a smile, a very misplaced smile in Hinami's opinion. And she still, to this day, didn't know what had truly been going through Kaneki's head at the time. But it was the talking of tragedy combined with that sad smile that told that there was more to it.

Kaneki had suffered, suffered a lot. A lot more than the average person or ghoul. And as Hinami held onto her brother, who was clutching to her as if she would disappear, she wanted to take all his burden, all his issues, away. So he wouldn't feel this way over such a simple thing as a date, so he could live so carefree and without the unneeded worry.

"You are loved," Hinami whispered softly, running her fingers up and down the still trembling back. Her tone was soft, and she wasn't sure if he could even hear her over his crying, but she kept going anyway.

"You are safe. I know that it's hard to get past the things of your past, but please...please don't let it hold you back from the happiness you deserve so much..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emmett finally made a move! Love to see it!
> 
> I hope I did well with playing into Kaneki's feelings. I always felt that Kaneki would have some issues in the romance department, especially after the Rize situation. Having a crush on someone only for them to try to literally eat you...yeah that'll leave some trauma lol.
> 
> Let me know what you think!
> 
> Question time~  
> What is you guys' go-to comfort food? I love spicy ramen and just pasta in general.
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! And also hope my attempt at a text thread wasn't too cringe lol.


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